Amnesia
by Blue-10-Spades
Summary: "And with a growing sense of dread, she felt like she was forgetting something significant." Before Mikaela Banes became embroiled in an alien war, she used to be friends with four mutant ninja turtles and go by the name of April O'Neil. TransformersTMNTBayverse.
1. Think I'm Forgetting Something

Amnesia

"And with a growing sense of dread, she felt like she was forgetting something significant." Before Mikaela Banes became embroiled in an alien war, she used to be friends with four mutant ninja turtles and go by the name of April O'neil.

* * *

I'm Kind of surprised someone didn't already make a crossover of transformers and TMNT after it was released that Megan Fox was playing April. I'm looking forward to the day that someone does though :).

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but this idea I had on a whim.

* * *

"_Right now I'm having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before."_

― Steven Wright

* * *

_Something warm and calloused touched her cheek and her eyes met blue. A name whispered at her mind and she spoke it with an easy familiarity built upon years of friendship._

"_Hey," Spoke blue, name never quite sticking in her mind no matter how hard she tried to hold onto it. "You fell asleep on the couch again." She muttered something unintelligible and blue laughed as he easily stooped down to scoop her up. Her arms reached up reflexively around his neck, the hard edges of something hindering a movement that should have been easy with any normal person._

But he isn't normal is he_, the thought niggled at the back of her mind but she ignored it in her hazy state of sleep. Rough textured skin rubbed against the smooth skin at the back of her knees as muscles flexed to carry her. She felt herself being settled against a mattress and it gave away under her weight. The strong arms that carried her slid away and she found herself reaching out to latch onto a retreating hand. _

_Three thick fingers met her slender ones._

_She saw his mouth open, a name sliding out into the silent room._

"_Apr—"_

Something warm and calloused touched her cheek and her eyes met blue.

"Sam," She breathed out, disoriented from sleep. Sam looked at her worriedly from the passenger seat of Bumblebee's alt form. Her back pressed against warm leather as she sat herself upright from her laying position.

"Hey," Spoke Sam as he reached back and gently pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "You fell asleep in the backseat again." A strong sense of Deja vu struck her without warning and she found herself frowning at the familiarity of this situation. The harder she tried to think on it the more it felt like a distant memory in a different lifetime.

"You okay, Mikaela?" Sam asked as Bumblebee's blonde haired holoform pretended to drive.

"Yeah," She mumbled as she reached out to grasp his hand, five fingers interlacing with her own. She frowned again because something about this just _didn't feel right. _

"Why?"

She started as a tentative hand brushed against her cheek, just under her eye, and wiped away something wet. Mikaela was startled to realize that there were tears cascading down her face.

"You were crying in your sleep," The boy said softly, eyes imploring her for a reason. "Bad dreams?" He prodded gently. Mickaela frowned as she tried to recall what she had been dreaming of but it was already long forgotten.

"I don't remember."

And with a growing sense of dread, she felt like she was forgetting something significant.

.

.

.

"_Hey…" A name echoed off the walls and she struggled to hear it. "Thought you had work today?" She turned and met a hulking figure of green, head and eyes swathed in red. She should have felt fear at the sight of the creature but instead felt happiness bubble up in her chest._

"_Hi…" Another name was spoken, a bright smile making its way to her face. "I called in sick. Where are the other's?" There were four people that should've been here and she felt a type of emptiness at their lack of presence. Like coming home to an empty house. Red scoffed, teeth gnashing angrily at a toothpick._

"_Those pricks are topside investigating some foot action." There was something important about this, something she should be aware of. "Sensei is out meditating or somethin'."_

"_You didn't want to go with them?" She found herself asking as she went to sit on their couch. He followed after her and made himself comfortable next to her. The TV blared on, the loud noises and bright light's filling the room with life._

"_Nah," He said in an offhanded manner, mouth set in a frown that revealed his true feelings on the matter. "Those guy's should be fine without me." She heard the undertones of worry and hummed in dubious agreement at his reticence. _

_There was a moment of silence as they mindlessly watched the television before red sighed in resignation._

"_I may have…punched fearless." She gaped before erupting into peals of laughter as a slow smile spread on red's face. And she knew that the gruff, brusque red very rarely smiled which made her love for him grow._

Mikaela wasn't sure what to think of Sunstreaker when he first showed up with his twin Sideswipe. He had sneered at her and Sam as they stood beside Bumblebee at the lip of the crater where he had impacted with the Earth. And while Sam had found himself frowning at the brusque mech, something in Mikaela seemed to gravitate towards the angry bot.

"What do you want, organic?" He spat from his seat on the large couch, hands carefully cleaning his blades. The rec room was empty at this time, the rest of the team busy with other tasks. Even Sideswipe was absent and Mikaela frowned at the emptiness that filled her at their lack of presence. It was akin to coming home to an empty house she mused.

"I was looking for Bumblebee," She lied boldly and made a show of glancing around the empty room for the autobot. The golden Lamborghini huffed impatiently, hands rubbing the cloth against his blade in an agitated manner. Instead of being put out by his obvious frustration with her presence, Mikaela found herself moving closer to the mech until she was standing at the foot of the couch.

When he made no move to acknowledge her presence, she found herself climbing up the couch with more ease than she expected. The golden Lamborghini frowned silently as she settled herself next to him—far enough where her form never once graced his own—and subspaced the cloth as his weapon lay forgotten in his lap.

"Can I help you?" He asked brusquely, irritation seeping his words. Mikaela met his icy blue optics easily as a tense silence filled the area, the only noise from the giant plasma screen.

"Where are the other's," She asked instead and felt like she had asked this question before in a similar situation. Sunstreaker grunted before finally subspacing his blades.

"Those slagger's are out investigating some Decepticon action." He said sharply, his obvious frustration apparent, as well as some undertones of concern. He crossed his arms over his chassis and she had seen this stance on someone before. Who was it, who was it?

"You didn't want to go with them?" She found herself asking and the mech gave her a narrow eyed look before turning wordlessly to the television. She hummed at his reluctance to speak and turned to the television as well.

There was a moment of silence as they both mindlessly watched the television –-though she could tell that Sunstreaker was battling with some internal argument—before the golden mech sighed in resignation.

"I may have…punched mudflap." He grumbled lowly and Mikaela found herself gaping at him before erupting into peals of laughter. The corner of his mouth tilted up into a small smile and Mikaela felt her heart swell with love—and then break at the thought that his smile was both similar and completely different from the one she really wanted to see.

And for the life of her she couldn't name the person whose smile she wanted to see and that brought tears to her eyes.

.

.

.

_The large, infectious smile that greeted her had one spreading across her own face. There was a tinge of mischief in it that had her brows rising in question._

"_What's going on," She asked and the orange tied around his forehead wiggled up and down with his brow ridges._

"_You came just in time for the show, angel cakes," He said smoothly as he grasped her arm with his large, three-fingered hand and pulled her to hide behind the couch. The round edge of something, something—_his back,_ her mind wondered, but that wasn't right- pushed up against her chest as she peered around him to watch the entry-way of the room._

_It was someone's room, she knew whose, but couldn't quite grasp the name as it continuously slipped like water out of her thoughts._

"_What're we doing?" She murmured into the man's back, eyes still glued to the entrance of the room of the person whose name she couldn't recall. He shushed her excitedly as they heard the heavy footfalls of someone with a large stature. She found this amusing for some reason; like the idea that she could hear their footsteps was funny. Why, why, why was it funny?_

_A disgruntled grunt sounded just as something heavy and metallic rang against the floor, the loud clang echoing off the walls. A murderous yell and the man before her giggled delighted as the hulking figure of red entered the room. He was covered in some type of pink paint and the glare he sent orange could only be labeled as deadly. It was wholly ineffective as pink paint continued to drip down his face and splatter against the floor._

_She couldn't help the uncontrollable laughter that erupted from her mouth, tears of mirth collecting in her eyes as she continued to gaze at the disgruntled red. Orange laughed with her and she felt his arms wrap around her for stability as they collapsed against each other in their amusement. _

The first time Mikaela talked to Sideswipe, he had smiled with all the charm and swagger that he possessed and she found herself gracing him with one of her own. There was a tinge of mischief in it that had her brows rising in question.

"What's going on," She asked and watched with some amusement as he wiggled his brow ridges up and down in a very human gesture.

"You came just in time for the show, baby girl," He purred and something about that pet name made her frown because it wasn't the one she was expecting to hear. But what pet name was she expecting, because she had never talked to this mech before?

He delicately grasped her arm with his large, three-fingered claw and pulled her to hide behind the massive couch with him. The round edge of his wheeled foot pushed up against her chest as she peered around him to watch the entryway of the rec-room.

"What're we doing?" She murmured into the mech's foot, eyes still glued to the entrance of the room and the large bucket that was rigged over the door. She furrowed her brows about this overplayed prank. But this was the first time she had seen a prank like this, right? Right?

He shushed her excitedly as they heard the heavy footfalls of someone with a large stature. She found her finger's digging into Sideswipe's wheel as her mind tried to conjure up who could be coming. A flash of red passed through her mind but was instantly dismissed as a disgruntled grunt sounded.

The heavy and metallic bucket rang against the mech's head, the loud clang echoing off the walls. A murderous yell erupted from Sunstreaker's mouth and Sideswipe giggled delighted as the hulking form of the Golden Lamborghini entered the room.

He was covered in some type of pink paint and the glare he sent Sideswipe and her could only be labeled as deadly. It was wholly ineffective as pink paint continued to drip down his face and splatter against the floor.

She couldn't help the uncontrollable laughter that erupted from her mouth, tears of mirth collecting in her eyes as she continued to gaze at the disgruntled mech. Her laughter became louder and her breath hitched as the situation lost all its humor, the tears of mirth steadily turning into uncontrolled sobs as this situation struck her as _utterly wrong_.

Sideswipe laughed with her and she felt her arms wrap around him for stability as they collapsed against each other—him in amusement and her with an all-consuming devastation of someone who had lost something of great importance.

.

.

.

_She made her way across the room and stood at the threshold of his lab. His back was to her, his hands moving restlessly over a piece of machinery with a type of focus that one would reserve for a priceless artifact._

_She crept up behind him, eyes alight with mirth as she thought of scaring him. But she quickly discarded that idea because they had told her before that sneaking up on them was a bad idea._

Why was it a bad idea again_, she wondered, before calling out his name. He jumped a little, surprised at her presence, before quickly whipping around with the object still in his hands._

"_Oh, hey," He said breathlessly, the aftereffects of her startling him apparent in his voice. "I didn't hear you come in."_

"_Apparently," She giggled. "What happened to those honed senses of yours?" She mocked him with air quotations. _

"_Hey, when I'm in the zone, nothing can distract me," He smiled good-naturedly before moving his goggles to rest on his head. She sidled up to stand by his side and glanced down on the machine he was working on._

"_What's this," She asked as she pointed at the complex piece of machinery. He smiled enthusiastically and gestured to the flat platform._

"_Remember when we talked about a teleportation device?" She found herself nodding as she recalled a conversation they had on it a while back. "Well I thought about it and devised a hypothesis on how we can expand wormholes through a sharp burst of energy. Theoretically, if I were to accumulate a vast amount of energy and release it all at once it would be strong enough to make a tear in space that we could travel through."_

"_But that's not really a teleportation device, so much as a gateway to alternate universes, right?" She found herself asking as she touched the smooth metal. He nodded his head._

"_Yes, that's correct. The type of teleportation device we were speaking of would require me to scan you to a subatomic level and then send all your particle matter to an arranged place. But of course, I can only send you to a place where we've established a receiving teleportation devise; otherwise your molecular structure would deteriorate and disappear into the universe." He fiddled with the machine and grunted in irritation when sparks erupted from the exposed wires. It was then that she noticed the truly haggard look he was sporting._

"_When's the last time you slept," She asked, concerned. He was quiet for a long while before shooting her a guilty look._

"_Ahh….three days ago?" His voice hitched at the end, making it sound more like a question. Her eyes turned murderous and he raised his hands in surrender as his name whipped out of her mouth like lightning._

"_C'mere," She ordered, and grasped his hand tightly. She pulled him across to his bedroom and harshly shoved him onto the bed. He grunted and bounced on the mattress. _

"_You stay here," She told him and he gave her a dry look. Realizing that he would probably just work on something in here, she quickly pushed him back a little and then slid into the small space left._

"_What are you doing?" He cried out, alarmed as she pressed her back firmly against his hard front. _

Not hard like muscle_, the observation tickled at her senses and she couldn't quite recall why it wasn't like muscle before grabbing a rough textured arm and draping it over her waist. _

"_Oh, relax," She whispered and snuggled into him. "This isn't exactly the first time I slept with one of you." She could practically feel the heat of his blush before he pulled her closer, his comforting heat working better than any blanket. And the content smile that made its way to her face was there when she woke the next morning._

She watched from the floor as he tinkered with something in his large hands, the gleaming metal shining under the fluorescent lights. He was wholly focused on the item in his hands, her presence not even registering in his sensors. She smiled and thought about scaring him for a second before quickly discarding the thought. Someone had told her before that it was a bad idea to sneak up on people.

Who said that again?

So instead she yelled up to him and watched as he jumped a little in shock before peering down at her.

"Oh," Spoke Wheeljack, the fins on the side of his head lighting up as he spoke. "I didn't sense you come in." A wave of nostalgia hit her and then left in the same instance.

"Apparently," She giggled. "What happened to those honed senses you guys always crow about?"

"When I'm working nothing can distract me," His eyes lit up good-naturedly and he stooped down to pick her up and gently place her on his worktable.

"What's this," She asked and pointed to the gleaming metal he was working on. His whole disposition changed as he gestured to the machine enthusiastically.

"Well me and Ratchet were working on the prospect of a new ground bridge." Her brows furrowed at the term and he noticed it. "A ground bridge is what we used on Cybertron to make great leaps of distance in a matter of seconds."

"Like a teleportation device," Mikaela mused as she reached out to touch the smooth platform. She had this conversation before, but with someone else. Their name started with a D, she thinks, and chalks it up to an obscure conversation she must've had with Dino.

"Yes, that's correct, but instead of the typical transportation device that scrambles your particle matter from point A and rearranges them in point B, a ground bridge actually tears a hole through the space time continuum."

"Kind of like a gateway to an alternate world," She spoke and felt something heavy settle in her chest at the thought. Like maybe, maybe there was another Mikaela out there who was having a similar conversation like this but with a totally different person. The chuckle that left Wheeljack's vocalizers instantly brought her back to reality.

"No, there's no scientific proof of alternate realities." His voice was almost patronizing but then he huffed in irritation as sparks shot from the expose wiring of the machine. Mikaela looked up to his shielded face and could almost sense his exhaustion.

"When's the last time you slept," She asked, concerned. He was quiet for a long while as he tried to calculate the last time he had recharged.

"Ahh….three days ago?" He stated unsurely and Mikaela found her eyes narrowing at him in annoyance.

"C'mon," She ordered, and stepped onto one of his hands. She pointed to his berth and he carried her towards it unsurely. When she gave him an expectant look, he hesitantly laid down on it, Mikaela still held in an elevated palm.

"You stay here," She told him and he gave her a dry look. Realizing that he would probably just work on something in here, she quickly shimmied down his palm and climbed her way to his chassis.

"What are you doing?" He asked, only mildly disturbed as she curled contently over his warm chest. His spark beat faintly under her and her eyes closed as it lulled her to sleep.

She couldn't quite find what was missing with this position she found herself in; her body craving something that the mech was lacking. She thought that it was the familiar sensation of flesh but even that thought didn't quite feel right. Like she was expecting something more rough and textured.

A large hand came over to cradle her protectively and she smiled, all thoughts being dismissed, as she burrowed more firmly into the solid plane of the mech's chest.

"Oh, relax," She whispered and snuggled into him. "This isn't exactly the first time I slept with one of you." She could practically feel the heat of his embarrassment before he pulled her closer, his comforting heat working better than any blanket.

And the content smile that made its way to her face was gone the next morning when she reached back for someone that she felt should have been there, but wasn't. Wheeljack held her to his chassis, still deep in recharge, as she cried silent tears for a presence she sorely missed but ultimately couldn't remember.

.

.

.

Optimus Prime gazed down at her as she hugged his leg fiercely, cool metal pressing hard against the smooth skin of her cheek.

"I don't want to leave," She told him brokenly. The call she had received this morning from her foster parents had sent her reeling in shock and anger, as they had demanded her to come back home. Finding no solution for her problems, she had sought out the calming and wise presence of the Autobot leader.

"Oh Mikaela," He vented softly before reaching down to gently grasp her in his large hand. "You will always have a home with us." These words comforted her, but not enough to quell the steady stream of tears that fell from her eyes.

_He gazed down at her as she hugged his leg fiercely, coarse fabric rubbing harshly against the smooth skin of her cheek._

"_I don't want to leave," She told him brokenly. The call she had received this morning from her foster parents had sent her reeling in shock and anger, as they had demanded her to come back home. Finding no solution for her problems, she had sought out the calming and wise presence of the man—her mind stuttered on this because he wasn't a man, was he—before her._

"_Oh, my child," He sighed softly before reaching down to gently grasp her in a warm hug, one that was familiar and comforting. "You will always have a home with us." These words comforted her and were enough to quell the steady stream of tears that fell from her eyes. _

_Because, she knew without a doubt that she would always have a place here, amongst her true family._

_._

_._

_._

_Leonardo smiled at her patiently as he instructed her through the kata. Mikey stood next to her making overly exaggerated motions and a smile flitted to her face. Raphael cuffed him on the back of his head, and he toppled over, unbalanced. Donatello sighed with the air of the long-suffering as he sits beside Master Splinter in preparation for their one-on-one meditation._

_April smiles at all of them, her heart overflowing with all the love one feels for their family. And she knows without a doubt that they will always, always be togeth—_

Mikaela jerks awake at the loud, blaring of her alarm clock, cheeks wet with tears and heart heavy with the loss of something significant.

Her dream is long forgotten by the time she reaches over to turn off her alarm.

* * *

Gosh, what the heck is going on with Mikaela lol.

1. April O'neil is around the same age as the turtles and was raised along side with them.

2. Yes, Sunstreaker is in this.

3. I refuse to think of Que and Wheeljack as the same person. So they're not.

4. Science is seriously not my forte. Sorry if I butchered any of these topics during Donnie and Wheeljack's scenes.

5. I enjoy reading more than writing, so go forth and create a fic with a bayverse crossover so I may read it and enjoy it instead of getting impatient and creating my own.


	2. Fighting This Feeling

I'm happy with the requests I've gotten to extend this past a one-shot! Please read and review; critiques are welcome and encouraged .

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but this idea I had on a whim

* * *

"_But the thing about remembering is that you don't forget."_

― Tim O'Brien, _The Things They Carried_

* * *

"—_ril!" She stared at orange, hands grasping his own desperately. There were yells in the background, loud crashes and bangs that had her flinching._

_Someone yelled in pain and she could feel her eyes welling up with tears. Orange pleaded with his eyes._

"_Please, please, stay here," He begged softly and she heard someone call his name desperately._

"_I can help," She told him firmly and reached for something hard and firm at her side. His other hand stopped the motion just as a loud crash rocked the very foundation._

"_No," He practically snarled and she wilted because she had never seen this side of orange._

_Another shrill screech of pain had her jerking up into action._

"_They're coming, get her out, _get her out!"_ Her eyes followed the voice and looked into the pained eyes of blue. So distracted she didn't notice the device that orange slid into her hands. Glancing down she saw the teleportation device purple had been working on._

"_I'm sorry," Orange said softly. Purple yelled in the background._

"_No, wait that hasn't been test—" A hard blow to his back sends him sprawling just as a bright light consumes her. She screams and stretches out a hand towards the sorrowful orange._

"_Mike—"_

Mikaela jerks awake as the sun flashes against her eyes. She groans and rubs a fist against them before blearily looking at her alarm clock. It reads back nine-thirty and she decides that it's officially time to wake up. A loud bang against the door and she see's Sam poke his head in.

"Hey," He greets her and takes in her disheveled state. "Feel like breakfast?"

Mikaela nods and ponders on the strange dream she had.

By the time she sits down at the cafeteria next to Sam, Epps, Leo and Will it has faded from her memory.

.

.

.

She watches as Leo curses once again at his hand-held data pad. Once Leo was hired under nest due to his hacking abilities, Optimus had gifted the young man with a piece of their technology. You would never find him without it.

"What's wrong?" She asked casually as he swore again. Sam and Will trail behind them, talking once more of the recent Decepticon activity.

"Someone's been trying to hack into the nest database," He said distractedly, eyes never straying once from his data pad. That caught Will's attention.

"You think it's a Decepticon?"

"I'm not sure," Admitted Leo as he typed furiously against the screen. "So far they're just looking into Level one's secured information."

Mikaela furrows her brows in confusion.

"Level one just has information on the civilian's who work for nest; nothing pertaining to the nest soldier's or, more importantly, the aliens we're currently housing."

"Unfortunately, all the scientist's, mechanics, technicians and well _us _fall under this category," Here he gave her and Sam a significant look. He looks back at the data pad.

"Gah, they got past my encryption code!" He curses in rapid Spanish.

"Sorry guys, I have to go speak to Blaster about this."

They watch him go before conferring with one another.

"This is definitely fishy," Mutters Will. "Sounds like Qatar and Air Force One all over again." Before they can speak more on the subject Epps jogs up to them, an object held firmly in his grip.

"Hey guys," He yells jovially. "Look what I got in the mail from my cousin."

"Oh, cool," Crows Sam, delighted at the sight of the weapon held loosely in Epps' grip. " Nun chucks!"

"Nunchaku," Mikaela finds herself correcting him automatically before immediately frowning. How did she know what this weapon was called?

Sam doesn't seem to care as he waves her off and reaches for the weapon almost reverently. Epps pulls back, just out of Sam's fingertips and waves his finger at him.

"Nuh uh, grass hopper. If you want these babies, you need to grab it from me," He tucks them under his arm pit and hold one hand out to wave him forward in a manner reminiscent to Bruce Lee.

"Only then will you be worthy."

Will sighs and shakes his head next to him as Sam suddenly grows serious and falls into what could only be described as the 'Flying Pray Mantis' pose.

"Oh, it is _on_," He struggles to keep balanced and wobbles on his foot. Then, to Mikaela's embarrassment, he kicks out at the air and proceeds to make Kung Fu sound effects.

"Oh, god," Mikaela mutters as she pinches the bridge of her nose. She see's Will do the same when Epps begins to circle around Sam and make the same sound effects. Before she realizes what she's doing, she quickly snatches the weapon out from Epps' armpit.

"Hey," He cries, shocked that Mikaela was able to steal his toy. He quickly darts a hand out to get it back. Mikaela just dances out of his reach and tucks one of the handles under her armpit, the other still held in one grip. She extends her other hand out, palm facing Epps in a defensive stance.

Epps falters and stops at this unexpected move.

"Oh, you wanna battle 'Kaela?" He challenges her with a smirk. Mikaela smiles and tests the weight of the nunchaku. She twirls it experimentally and can't help but feel like she's done this before. The movement is stilted at first, her mind remembering the movements, but her body unused to it. Like trying to repeat a dance routine that was well practiced but struggling to remember all the moves.

Finally, after a few more twirls her movements become more fluid. She switches to a figure eight and then begins to switch grips on the handles. Sam gapes at her as the others watch her in stunned silence.

Mikaela is oblivious to it as she focuses wholly on the smooth movements of the oak wood. She makes another hand switch and lets the handle gently bounce off her shoulder before once again switching the grips. She slashes across her opposite shoulder and catches the handle under her armpit with her free hand and repeats the movement on the other side.

_A vivid white smile and a flash of orange bear down on her. "See Angel cakes, I told you you'd get it!"_

The memory is so abrupt that she drops the nunchaku in her surprise. It clatters against the floor loudly. A low whistle catches her attention and she finally looks up to meet the eyes of the three men before her.

"Um, wow," Will says eloquently and Sam nods his head in agreement.

"Damn, girl," Crows Epps as he slaps her on the back. "Didn't know you were a damn ninja!" Something about that term causes her breath to stutter but no one seems to notice.

.

.

.

Mikaela finds herself lounging in the open hangar once Sam and Will leave to speak to Optimus. Epps had joged off to show his new weapon to Ironhide. She's sure it'll be interesting trying to explain the effectiveness of a weapon that consists of two pieces of wood held together by some string. She can just imagine Ironhide pinching it incredulously between two large digits and can't help but giggle at the mental image.

"O'Neil!" Mikaela stops and turns around to meet the stern stare of a nameless soldier. She gives him an expectant look but he ignores her. It's only when the man behind her passes by that she realizes that he was the one being called, not her.

She stands there for a moment and tries to figure out why she had responded to that name. It was eerily familiar. Before she could ponder on it anymore she hears someone yell her name. Sam races across the room to meet her.

"Hey, you finished your meeting already?"

"Forget that," He says breathlessly as he waves away her question. "Did you know that they have sparring matches here?"

Mikaela shakes her head.

"Well apparently they hold them once a week and people go to observe them. Like UFC fights." She thinks that maybe she had heard of it in passing gossip but she'd certainly never seen it.

"Is that so," She mutters, not really sure where Sam was going with this.

His smile is hopeful.

"Wanna go?"

.

.

.

Mikaela wasn't sure what she was expecting when she walked into the gym. The massive ring of people surrounding two fighting opponents weren't it. Watching from a distance, it looked more like a fight club rather than a UFC match.

"I got ten on Bishop," Someone yelled over the cheering crowd and waved a couple bills. A few muttered their own bets and Sam pulled her past the crowd to get a good look at the center. There was no cage or fenced off portion, just a couple of mats that served as a border. A short stocky man came into view and she watched as he bobbed under a well-aimed punch initiated by a taller, lankier man.

Their only means of protection were the hand wraps they wore.

"Oh, this is so awesome," Breathed Sam as he watched the tall lanky man do a spinning back kick. It just barely grazed the short stocky man.

"C'mon Dixon, you're losing in there!" The short stocky man grunted and caught the lanky man's leg the second time he did the spinning back kick. The crowd cheered louder when Dixon was able to trip out Bishop's other leg and wrestle him to the floor. He quickly wrapped Bishop's arm between his legs and pulled back into a tight arm bar. Bishop tapped against the mat furiously and the match ended.

"Dixon wins," Somebody in the crowd cried and there were cheers and boo's at the same time as money was tossed around angrily.

"Is this actually allowed," Mikaela wondered aloud and then realized it was when she caught sight of a smirking Will and Epps on the other side of the circle. They both held money in their grip and seemed to have just won some more.

"Who's next?" Someone yelled over the crowd and Mikaela watched as a large, bulky man stepped into the ring. He pulled off his shirt and took the hand wraps someone offered him.

"Anyone up to challenging Marco?"

Nobody even dared to place a toe onto the mat. You'd have to be a fool to challenge that guy, she thought.

A giggle was heard behind her and then suddenly Sam was shoved forward. He fell to the floor unceremoniously. Mikaela turned around to shoot a glare at the perpetrator. Skids and Mudflap smiled innocently and it was only then that she realized that there were some Autobots spectating as well.

"Way to go Witwicky," Smiled another soldier, impressed, as he handed Sam some hand wraps. Sam took it stupidly and gaped at the large man before him.

"Um, n-no wait, I think there's some kind of mistake here," He swallowed uncomfortably as Marco gave him a flat look. "I may run with Autobots, but I'm not suicidal."

Marco snorts.

"Look, kid, let's just fight." Sam babbles some excuses and tries to back out but the ring of people stood firm. Mikaela sighs and decides it was time to bail her boyfriend out. Two long strides and she stands in front of Sam and before Marco.

"Look," She begins in a placating voice. "I don't think that—"

"Oh, hey there sweetie. You come to be our ring girl?" Marco leers at her. "Well you're wearing way too much clothes for that. C'mere and I'll give you a hand." Mikaela could only blink in appalled shock.

"Why don't you be a good girl and leave this to the men." Mikaela seethes and wordlessly holds out her hand to Sam. He looks at it in confusion.

"The wraps," She said through gritted teeth and he nervously passes it to her. Marco couldn't stop the condescending chuckle that escapes him.

"Are you serious," He asks incredulously. A confused murmur descends upon the crowd but Mikaela ignores it all as she began to wrap her hands, the strip of material looping a few times around her wrist before figure eighting around her thumb and slides the cotton through each digit once. She bound it more than a few times around her knuckles before once again looping around her wrists for extra stability.

If she weren't so angry she probably would've wondered where she learned to wrap her hands*.

Once she was done wrapping her hands she moved to stand confidently in front of Marco. She felt Sam try to tug her back and the death glare she sent him had him retreating to the crowd. She shot a similar glare towards Will and Epps when she saw them move forward.

The crowd was deathly silent as they watched the two square off.

"…twenty on Marco," Someone finally muttered, breaking the tense silence. It spurred on the rest of the crowd and they came to life at once.

"Twenty-five on Marco!"

"Thirty on Marco!"

"So, you really wanna do this girly?" Asks Marco, amidst all the loud bidding. Mikaela frowned, an inkling of doubt spreading through her as everyone betted against her. Heavy footsteps and then a voice cut through all the noise.

"A hundred on Mikaela."

She looks up and meets the blue optics of Sunstreaker. He doesn't smile or frown, just nodds his head once and that was all the encouragement Mikaela needs. She looks back to Marco, courage bolstered. Everyone is surprised at the mech's confidence in her and Marco scoffs once before cracking his neck.

"Let's go," And that was when Mikaela rushes forward and launches her attack.

* * *

*This is how I remember wrapping my hands. I'm a little rusty so I'm probably missing a step or two.

Has anyone else noticed the Autobots and humans that shouldn't be there?

**Things that I struggle with:**

1. Comma's and apostrophes. Seriously, I have no idea when it's appropriate to use them.

2. Writing anything in first person.

3. Switching between present and past tenses.

4. DIALOGUE.

4. Fight scenes. Sorry if the next chapter is a little anti-climatic. If anyone feels like collaborating a fight scene with me, just leave a review or PM and I'll try and incorporate any ideas you have into the story :).

5. Completing a story. Fortunately, my muses are working extra hard on ideas for this story. I'm hopeful that I will actually finish this one lol.

Fighting This Feeling-Complete

September 3, 2014


	3. Nothing Sweeter Than Victory

Holy crap, these fight scenes sucked the life out of me…and I still don't like it. But I set a timeline for the 30th (cause I wanted the update to fall on my bday lol) and I had to deal with it, lest I never update. The next chapters might take a bit longer to update because I hate glaringly, obvious plot holes and because there are certain scenes I want to incorporate into the story without making them too random.

I hate writing fighting scenes. Anyway there's minor swearing in this one. Also, if it seems irregular in my writing it's because I've been experimenting with my writing style. It's hard :'(

Before I forget, what is your theory as to Mikaela's situation? You have about 1-2 chapters before I reveal all, so if you want to speculate, now is the time.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but this idea I had on a whim

* * *

"_I intend to fight and I want to win."_

– Mike Tyson

* * *

"_Stay here," Blue whispers firmly, hand reaching for the katana at his back. She frowns and mutters lowly to herself._

"_I mean it…I don't want you getting hurt." She watches as Red and Orange creep around the side of the building. Purple stays back and observes them carefully._

"_You know, you guys can't always shield me," She tells them, hand reaching down for what was tucked into the waistband of her pants. "I'm going to have to fight sooner or later."_

_Purple's frown is defiant._

"_Not if I have anything to do about it." He follows after Orange and Red. Blue gives her a warning look and points to the floor._

"_Stay. Here." He orders her before he too disappears around the corner. She sighs loudly and leans against the wall. She was tired of this overprotective streak of theirs. She may be a girl but that didn't mean she was made of glass—_

_A clatter against the floor has her whipping around just as a hard hit connects against the side of her face._

_The force behind it sends her reeling back, so used to the pulled punches of her brethren. Her vision spins and she struggles to see who had attacked her. A vicious smile was the last thing she saw before another strike to the head has her vision turning to black._

Mikaela rushes Marco, much to his surprise. Quickly he throws up his arms to block whatever she plans. But Mikaela quickly sidesteps and weaves behind him to throw a punch to his kidney.

He's more surprised than hurt and it quickly morphs to anger as he swings around to backhand her. She dances just out of reach and the cheers that echo off the walls makes him scowl darkly.

"Lucky shot," He sneers, pride hurt. He edges towards her arms still raised in a boxer's style and she circles him, elbows bent and palms facing him. When he's within touching distance he quickly throws a right hook and she ducks under, hand forming a fist which she uses to again punch in his kidney.

He winces this time and growls loudly before his body shifts down and up to deliver a sharp uppercut.

Mikaela quickly rocks backwards, hands extending out to catch herself in a bridge before kicking herself up with her momentum.

Her foot catches him under the chin and he staggers backwards.

"Holy shit, way to go Mikaela!" Mikaela has just enough time to smile at Sam before Marco rushes her in a blind rage; his arms extended and ready to tackle her to the floor. She has a second of panic before she squares herself and extends her arms wide.

Marco collides with her and she instantly wraps an arm around his waist, the other coming to grip tight around his bicep, and pivots on her foot until her back is to his chest. His force sends them forward and Mikaela uses that to aid her as she throws him over her hip.

Marco is shocked at this action and holds her tight to him as he falls down. She falls with him under her and she feels the warm puff of air against her neck as the breath is knocked out of him.

"Finish it!" Someone yells and Mikaela scrambles to put him in an arm lock. Feet resting on his chest, she arches up while gripping hard to the arm between her legs.

Unfortunately, Marco was much stronger than her as he slowly but surely curled his arm back to his chest. Seeing that Mikaela was not going to win from an arm bar, she quickly releases him and rolls backwards over her shoulder and into a crouch. Marco gets to his feet then and the glare he sends her had enough hate to kill someone.

"I'm going to destroy you," He hisses and that is all the warning she has as he again rushes her, except this time he raises his arm high and tries to punch her. Mikaela summersaults to the side and Marco's fist pounds hard against the mat.

She quickly gets to her feet arms coming up to defend her face as Marco throws a wild haymaker. She throws up an arm to block it by his forearm and throw it off its trajectory and he recovers with a left hook to which she does the same thing.

He scowls and moves for a right uppercut and Mikaela shifts her attention to block it.

But instead of completing the motion, he smiles darkly, shifts his body and throws a hard left hook.

Mikaela is too slow to defend herself and it connects with her cheek. She staggers to the left from the force of it, and before she can orientate herself, Marco throws a quick round house kick that forces her to the floor. The crowd falls silent.

Mikaela is winded for a moment—just a moment— before she furrows her brows and stands back up slowly.

The look Marco gives her can only be labeled as stunned incredulity.

"Your hits are weak," She informs him candidly and Marco's face morphs to humiliated rage as he once again rushes her. Mikaela shakes her head and thinks, _when will he learn, _before she grabs his arms and falls to her back.

Marco gives her a smug smile that quickly changes when Mikaela plants her foot against his belly and kicks off when she makes contact with the floor.

Marco sails over her head and lands on his back with a hard thump.

Mikaela quickly does a kip-up and turns to Marco who staggers into a half crouch position with his back to her. Seeing his defenseless back, she launches herself to him and wraps an arm around his neck, the other coming under his left armpit and weaving itself behind his neck.

Marco lets out a choked gasp and tries to throw a back elbow with his free hand but is too inflexible to do much but graze her.

His growl vibrates against her inner elbow and she tightens her hold and wraps her legs around his waist when she feels him stand up.

There is a second where all he does is stand motionless before he hurls himself onto his back, his body landing hard against her own and leaving her breathless.

Instead of regaining her breathe she is left gasping under him because damn, _this guy is heavy_.

"Let's…see…who lasts…longer." Marco chokes out and Mikaela responds by tightening her hold as hard as she can. Marco struggles to tug off her elbow with his free hand but Mikaela stubbornly holds on.

She sees black seep into her vision and knows she will not last much longer. Two seconds after this and Marco grows lax.

"Mikaela wins!" Screams someone and Mikaela is able to smile for three seconds before she too falls unconscious, the black seeping out to encompass everything.

_._

_._

_._

_A solid crack of wood against her forearms had her eyes watering. Purple noticed and his face crumpled at the sight._

"_Keep going," She urged. His mouth trembled as he hit her again but against her thighs this time*. She felt heavy hands on her shoulder, keeping her still._

"_We're so sorry…" Muttered blue behind her and his hands tightened a little as the thud of purple's bo staff struck her again. "We wish it wasn't like this."_

_Purple's breath hitches and she knows he's close to crying. She gives him an encouraging nod and he strikes her again. The bruise against the side of her face throbs as she grimaces._

"_It's okay guys—" She whimpers a little when the solid wood hits a tender spot. "I know you're just trying to help me." They say nothing. They were against this training method but sensei ordered them to go through with it._

"_I wasn't ready for those hits. It's best to prepare my body as best as I can now, so this never happens again." Purple pauses, hands tight against his bo staff. She knows he blames himself, just like Blue, Orange and Red blame themselves._

"_Nothing that could've been done about yesterday," The sharp twist of Purple's mouth lets her know that he disagrees._

_Another strike and a loud crack and clatter._

_She smiles triumphantly as the sight of the broken bo staff. There is nothing sweeter than victory, she thinks, before falling to her knees in exhaustion._

Mikaela wakes up and stares at the ceiling for five seconds before coming to the realization that she is not in her room.

A clank of metal against metal has her eyes shooting to the right and she see's Ratchet holding a screwdriver, quietly tinkering away at a loose screw in his elbow. He feels her stare and looks up.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake."

Mikaela blinks owlishly at him and sits up. Her vision shifts and falters as the world spins for a second and she groans quietly before clenching her eyes shut.

"What happened?" She finally asks after the vertigo settled. Ratchet pauses in his ministrations and looks closely at her.

"You don't remember?"

"I-I was in a fight right? Against Marco?"

Her cheek throbs incessantly and she prods it curiously. A loud hiss whispers between teeth and she feels that it is swollen.

"Holy crap," She cries. "Did my cheek have a baby?"

Ratchet, the sadist, seems to find this amusing for some reason as he chuckles softly at her pain. He subspaces a small mirror and passes it over to her.

"…Oh my god, I'm a monster," She finally mutters as she gazes at her very swollen, very purple cheek.

"You should see the other guy," Ratchet tells her before taking back the mirror. Mikaela looks confused at his words.

"The other…Marco? Did I…did I win?" She tries to think back to the match she'd had with him.

"Yes—well you fell unconscious at the end but you won none-the-less," He frowns then as a thought occurs to him.

"You don't remember any of this?" He asks curiously and she thinks hard for a second.

"I remember most of it, just not the ending I guess." Ratchet vents softly and runs a scan over her.

"Do you remember what day it is today?" He asks, a tentative digit skimming her skull. Mikaela swallows and thinks about the letters that blinked on her alarm clock next to the time and date this morning.

"Tuesday?" She mutters unsurely.

"And what did you eat for breakfast?"

"Awful military oatmeal and rubbery eggs." Ratchet smiles at the answer as he carefully prods her head. Not finding anything out of the ordinary he pulls his hands away

"Well, you don't seem to have a concussion, but if you have any head aches or nausea come see me immediately." Mikaela nods her head. Ratchet then gathers her in his hands and moves her to stand at the foot of the berth.

"So is there anything to get rid of the bruise on my cheek?" She asks hopefully and Ratchet snorts.

"I would suggest an icepack and soaking in Epsom salt. Try not to drown yourself." He says sarcastically as he palms the screwdriver.

Mikaela gives the tool a nervous look as she recounts what the other Autobots said about Ratchet.

"You're not going to hit me with that, are you?" She asks and eyes the large screwdriver.

"Don't be ridiculous Mikaela," He tells her blandly before ushering her out of the room. "Stay away from the human medical center; Marco is in there."

She nods her head and thanks him for his help to which he shakes his head.

"Don't thank me, thank Sunstreaker. He's the one who ran you here in a panic. I thought you were mortally wounded with how stricken he looked."

Mikaela blinks confusedly before setting out to find said golden Lamborghini.

.

.

.

The search didn't take very long as Sunstreaker was seated right outside of the infirmary, head propped onto a fist and looking stoically at the opposite wall.

"Hey!" She yells to get his attention and his arm jerks before he quickly looks down at her.

"Oh," He said tonelessly. "It's you." Mikaela gives him an odd look.

"Were you waiting for me or something?" She asks and looks pointedly at the distance between him and the infirmary. Sunstreaker seems annoyed by her words and gets up in an agitated manner.

"No," He says defensively. "I was waiting for-for Ratchet."

"Well he's in there." She says and points unnecessarily at the door.

"I know that."

"Well I thought maybe you weren't sure since you're just sitting out here, waiting for him." Sunstreaker mouth opens but then quickly snaps shut as he is unable to form a retort at her words. He sends her an irritated frown.

"Anyway," She quickly changes the subject after seeing his growing frustration. "I was told I should thank you for running me here."

"I didn't _run_ you here," He quickly snaps just as a nest soldier rounds the corner and spots the two of them.

"Hey," The soldier cries and points an accusing finger at him. "You almost ran me over earlier you ass!"

The soldier snarks at him for another five seconds before leaving and a brief, awkward silence descends on the two at his departure. She casts a furtive look at Sunstreaker and sees that he looks more than a little embarrassed.

Catching her surreptitious stare he quickly turns on his heel and strides away with a disgruntled air and Mikaela jogs up to him.

"Rap—" She cuts herself off when she realizes that she was about to call him by someone else's name. He didn't seem to notice and looks at her expectantly if a bit annoyed. She quickly shakes away any thoughts on the name she almost called him.

But it lingers there, at the back of her skull, and she can't help but wonder about the person she must've been thinking of as she gazed at the golden Lamborghini.

"Sunstreaker," She stressed his name, correcting her error. "I-I also wanted to say thanks, you know, for earlier. For believing in me," She elaborates at his blank stare. A silence descends upon them again, and it's more uncomfortable than anything.

Mikaela feels heat creep up her face as she flounders for words to fill the awkward lapse of conversation. He spares her the effort.

"I always knew you were going to win," He finally tells her and Mikaela can tell by his tone of voice that he is absolutely serious.

She furrows her brow and thinks that maybe he might just be a bit _too_ confident in her skills. If she had seen someone of the same size and stature of herself going up against Marco it wouldn't be that person she would bet on. He see's the self-doubt, vents softly to himself, and nudges her in the side gently to derail the thoughts.

"Look, femme," He pauses and seems to think about what he's about to say. "You may not know this but, my brother and I, we used to be gladiatorial warriors." He gauges her reaction to that statement and seems to accept whatever he see's as he continues.

"If there's one thing we can spot, it's another warrior." It was a compliment, she knew this, but she wondered why instead of feeling flattered she only felt dread pool in her belly. Like when someone comes dangerously close to figuring out a deadly secret.

He cocks his head to the side and Mikaela realizes she's grimacing.

She quickly tries to smooth her face into a more placid expression but the downward tilt to his mouth let's her know she is unsuccessful.

He opens his mouth and Mikaela finds herself tensing.

"Yo, Mickey!" The shout penetrates the air and effectively distracts Sunstreaker. Skids and Mudflap descend upon her; oblivious to the tense atmosphere they've intruded on.

She chances a glance to the Golden Lambo and finds him frowning at her thoughtfully. She quickly breaks eye contact.

"Girl, that fight was tight!" Say Mudflap as he slings an arm over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I ain't never seen nothing like it. Where'd you learn them kickaft moves 'Kaela?"

She see's Sunstreaker tip his head down to listen and feels a panic set in when she realizes she has no answer. And a different sort of panic wells up at the fact that she has no answer. The things she did today had to have come from years upon years of practice. And yet Mikaela couldn't recall ever going to a doujo, a gym, or even participating in a street fight. But the moves came like second nature; instinctual. There was no thought or planning, just doing.

Where _did_ she learn how to fight like that?

She quickly staunches her growing unease and blunders through a response.

"I had a friend who was into fighting," She finally says, and the lie sounds lame even to her own ears. "He taught me some things."

Before any more questions can be asked she quickly whacks them both on the head, the sharp slap echoing in the empty hallway.

"Ack," They cry out, more surprised than anything. "What'd you do that for?"

"Don't think I don't remember that it's your fault I have this," She points angrily to her swollen cheek. They look remorseful at the sight.

"Sorry," Says Skids and Mikaela can hear the genuine guilt in his words. "We just wanted to prank Sam. Didn't think you'd jump in to fight."

"But you did and it was pretty dope." Admits Mudflap with a goofy smile. Sunstreaker frowns and seems to be displeased at his words as he punts him down the hall. He lands in a heap a short distance away and Skids races to collect him after shooting a rude gesture at Sunny.

"I'm going to bed," Mikaela declares when she is left alone with Sunstreaker again.

"I'll walk you there," He offers quickly, and Mikaela knows that he is planning to ask her questions she has no way of answering. Questions that she is stubbornly trying to ignore as they bulldoze through her head.

"Weren't you waiting for Ratchet?"

"I-well yeah, but," They both know he had been lying but his pride enables him to admit it.

"Slaggit," He finally hisses and walks back to the infirmary leaving Mikaela to smile victoriously to herself.

Making her way to her room, she halts briefly at the entrance of the cafeteria when she spies Sam sitting next to a frantic Leo.

"Hey Sam, Leo," She says with a smile as she comes to their table. Sam turns around, coke poised at his lips, and promptly sprays it all over her. She grimaces and wipes a hand against her face.

"Really, Sam?" She asks incredulously as he gapes at her face.

"Holy shit," He breathes out and then quickly stutters when her face drops. "I-I mean—"

"Is it really bad?" She asks softly and gently touches her swollen cheek. Sam stares at her for a second before quickly shaking his head rapidly.

"No, no of course not!"

"You hesitated," Remarked Leo, eyes still roving over his data pad. "Try to get through that," He muttered with a triumphant chuckle. A minute later and he was cursing. Sam sends him a quick glare, to which he is oblivious of, before looking at Mikaela repentantly.

"It…could be worse." Sam tells her lamely and Mikaela frowns mulishly before once again prodding her cheek.

"I'm sure the swelling will go down by tomorrow—"

"Heads up!" Someone yells loudly and Sam is instantly recoiling as a Pepsi can sails right towards his face. He scrunches up his face for the imminent impact but a moment later he realizes nothing hit. He wearily cracks open an eye and sees that Mikaela had snatched it easily from the air, centimeters from his face, a dazed look in her eyes.

The room is deathly silent.

"Nice reflexes Banes," Someone murmurs in an awe-toned voice and it is loud against the silenced room. Mikaela instantly jerks out of her dazed state, the can falling harmlessly to the floor. She swallows and briefly meets his eyes.

"Um, I'm gonna go to bed," She tells him and before he can open his mouth she is already darting out of the cafeteria.

She is breathless by the she makes it to her room her skin perspiring with nervous anxiety. She quickly leans against the wall to catch her breath.

"What is happening to me," She whispers in an almost hysterical manner as she stares at her hands. She never had such good reflexes before…right? Yes, yes, she would've remembered having such a thing.

Just like she would've remembered where she learned fighting from.

Her mouth trembles and she rubs her hands against her legs agitatedly as if doing so would erase her past actions.

She rushes to her bed and dives under her covers, her pillow hugged tight to her chest.

"I'm going to go to sleep now and forget everything about today. Tomorrow, I will be normal again." She whispers to herself adamantly, eyes clenched shut.

"Just forget," She says and a long fifteen minutes later she finally falls asleep.

.

.

.

"_You hold it like this," A whisper and steady green hands enfolding over small pale ones as they grip the hilt of the bokken._

_She is standing by Blue, hands wrapped tight around a wooden sword as he guides her arms in slow movements._

"_Remember?"_

_Something about this seems familiar, she thinks, and like that the memory lengthens and gains clarity. _

_She had wanted to master the katana, a weapon she had always had a fascination with. Leonardo had been proud when she asked him for his tutelage; all too happy to help when he was asked._

"_Do you remember now?" He asks and tears spring to her eyes as she nods her head. _

_She remembers _everything_ now. _

_Leonardo smiles back, pleased and turns back to complete his Kata._

"_That's good," He says and brings his katana down slowly in a diagonal slash. "I'm glad you remember."_

_She follows his movement, body shaky and trembling with her emotions. He says nothing through out it and she finds herself simply reveling in his presence. They finish the kata with a reverse-gripped arc and move to re-rack the weapon in its proper shelf._

_He turns to her then and bows, bending low at the waist and she does the same without thought. It was part of their routine, she remembers and straightens up to complete the tradition._

"_Arigatou gozaimashita." She says clearly._

"_Doitashimashite." He responds and her smile is bright and vibrant when their session is complete*. But he does not return it and her smile fades and slips from her face as she realizes something is amiss. _

_Leonardo reaches out and holds her hand tightly and she clutches him back with equal strength, surprised at his actions. Leonardo was never one for casual touches or gestures, and usually reacted to everyone in a very formal manner. She feels alarm spread through her veins._

"_You're going to wake up now," He informs her matter of factly. "And you're going to forget you ever had this dream." She inhales sharply and shakes her head._

"_No, I'm going to remember."_

_He says nothing and she holds on tighter to his hand._

"_I'm going to remember," She insists as he calmly disentangles their hands. "I'm going to remember!"_

_Distantly, she hears an abrasive screeching sound in the background but she ignores it as she stares at Leonardo. _

_He pulls back and she reaches fervently for him. A small, sad smile lingers on his lips as he gazes at her. _

"_It's time to wake up."_

An alarm is blaring loudly when Mikaela awakens. She jumps up and tumbles out of bed, her legs becoming tangled in her comforter on her way down.

She struggles to free herself, and kicks frantically against the material until she is finally released. Her door is slammed open, banging harshly against the wall, and Mikaela is upon her feet in an instant as instincts she is unaware of kick in.

Sam's stares back at her, eyes large and alert.

"We gotta go," He yells, no explanation offered. She quickly pulls on the converse by her bedside and rushes to meet with him. He grips her hand and déjà vu hits her hard and she is confused for a second before she pushes it aside as she see's the state of chaos that's outside her door.

Nest soldiers are streaming through the hallways, the alarms blaring so loudly that she is unable to hear anything else. Red flashes intermittently, in-sync with the wailing alarm and Mikaela struggles to rein in her senses as she feels the first dredges of adrenaline seep into her body.

She see's a familiar form run past and she quickly tugs on Sam to run after them.

"Will!" She cries and the man whips around. He is surprised to see them and darts a hand out to grab the first soldier that passes by.

"Take these kids to the evac point," He orders and leaves before Mikaela can form a proper question. The soldier holds his rifle to his chest and quickly heralds them in the opposite direction of the soldiers.

She doesn't see any of the Autobots and can only assume that they are already at the front, fighting with the other nest soldiers.

Nest soldiers bump and brush against them and Mikaela holds on tight to Sam's hand as they follow the back of the nameless soldier.

Eventually, the stream of nest soldiers dwindle until it is just them left, their shadows arching high in the empty hallway.

Finally, they reach the hangar on the opposite side of Nest headquarters. It is empty. Mikaela comes to the conclusion that someone is supposed to be here by the way the soldier gazes around and curses.

"Dammit," He yells again and kicks the side of the wall, frustrated. He finally turns to look at the two teens and seems to realize that his actions are putting them on edge. He forcefully calms himself down and answers their silent question.

"The twins were supposed to be here to transport you two," He finally responds and Mikaela is hesitant to ask which twins. Sam simply turns to find some other means of transportation for them.

"What's going on out there?" The soldier blinks and glances at the way they came from. If Mikaela listened hard enough she could hear the faint cracks of gunfire. A particularly loud bang has the building quaking and Mikaela raises her hand to steady herself against the wall.

"I don't know," The soldier says gruffly and Mikaela looks to his chest for his name. She sucks in a breath when she reads O'Neil in bold capitalization. It was the same man from earlier this day. "I heard it was a Decepticon attack but no one knows why they're attack—"

An explosion goes off in the room and they are knocked back from the force of it. Mikaela reaches up to cradle her ringing ears and dizzily tries to right herself to a standing position. The lights flicker and plunge them into darkness briefly before flickering back on to half power.

"Sam!" She screams and looks frantically for the other teen. A fuzzy yell has her looking to her left and she see's Sam, bloody and cradling an arm to his chest run in their direction.

Her heart drops to her stomach when she see's the towering figure of Barricade crouch through a hole blown into the wall behind him. O'Neil wastes no time in opening fire on the Decepticon.

Bullets zip out and strike Barricade in the face and he frowns and bats them away like flies. A bullet ricochets and hits O'Neil in his arm and he yelps and drops the weapon.

Before he can even think to reach down and pick his weapon back up, Barricade has a cannon powered up and aimed directly at him. There's a heart wrenching moment where all she can do is meet his vivid green eyes and in the next the cannon is fired.

She screams as he is hit with the full force of the shot, his body lighting up and disintegrating into pure mist. Mikaela once again finds herself thrown back from the force of the fire and heat sizzles against her skin angrily. A distorted yell and a hand is urgently tugging at her own. She looks up with watery eyes and meets Sam's hazy figure.

"…up…need to…get up!" She allows herself to be dragged into a standing position and tears make a path down her face as she gazes at the place O'Neil had been standing. A smoky, charred black spot is all that remains and she chokes back a sob.

"O'Neil is dead," She whispers and it feels like a statement meant for more than just him. Sam is insistently pulling on her hand and she follows after him in a state of lethargy, legs heavy and lead like.

_O'Neil is dead_

The words echo somberly in her head and she is inexplicably heart broken. Loud crashes come from behind her and she is once again moving with a purpose as she spy's Barricade catching up with them. Her heart clenches when in two long strides he is right on top of them.

A heavy hand is swept out and Mikaela cries as the brunt of it catches her in the back. She is sent flying, air whizzing angrily past her ears. She crashes against something hard and metal and her head bounces harshly against it before she drops to the floor in a heap.

Someone is screaming her name in the background and she struggles to lift her head. Liquid seeps from the back of her skull and trails a sticky path down her neck.

"Sam," She mutters thickly and tries to push herself up. The world spins for a second and she falls back onto her stomach. Something clatters against her back and falls messily to the floor.

A katana gleams under the fluorescent light and Mikaela instantly recognizes the experimental weapon Wheeljack made from Cybertranium metal for the nest soldiers. She had crashed against the weapons cabinet.

"_You hold it like this," A whisper and steady green hands enfolding over small pale ones as they grip the hilt of the bokken._

Mikaela finds herself holding the Katana and an idea is planted firmly in her brain as she reaches behind her to grab another katana. She pushes herself up slowly, muscles protesting and screaming the entire way. She uses the dented weapons cabinets to brace herself into a standing position and blearily looks around.

Barricade is bearing down on a fallen Sam and she at first feels confusion before an overwhelming anger courses through her. A rush of adrenaline hits her and she grips the katana's tightly, knuckles turning white and smooth leather biting into her palms.

"_Remember?"_

Before she knows it she is running at full speed towards them.

A single leap puts her near his bent knee and she slashes hard and fierce, cables and metal parting easily under the sharp blades. Barricade curses in Cybertronian as his leg gives out and Mikaela quickly summersaults away as he throws a punch at her.

His hand goes through the floor and he growls and attempts to yank it out. A sharp throb against her back causes her to gasp in pain as she keenly feels the bruise Barricade inflicted on her when he backhanded her earlier.

Mikaela ignores the pain and brings her arms out wide and crosses them in a sharp movement that neatly severs his hand and wrist.

Energon spills out and the enraged growl he lets loose has the walls shaking. He stands up, all his weight going to his good leg, and brings a heavy fist down to her. She darts to the side and flips the blade face up and it catches along his forearm and drags a pink path with his movement.

Important cables are severed and Mikaela knows that his hand is rendered useless now. He see's her triumphant expression and a cannon pops up from his shoulder and powers on quickly.

Mikaela circles around him and he is slow to follow due to his injured leg. At one point his back is directly in front of the wall and Mikaela runs towards him then, narrowly missing being shot at, and moves past him. She leaps at the wall and when she makes contact, kicks off of it like a spring board and launches herself to the back of Barricade's exposed neck.

If she can sever the wires there, she thinks, then she has won. She raises her blades high in the air and shifts to strike diagonal—

Something hard barrels into her side and she is sent tumbling to the floor, blades flying from her hands and breathe leaving her body.

Ravage pins her to the floor and growls menacingly down at her as spots blink in and out of her vision.

"Stupid human," Hisses Barricade as he ambles to them slowly. "I'm going to enjoy dismantling you."

His large hand covers her completely and that is the last thing Mikaela sees.

* * *

*Okay, this is impact training and I've seen it used in Tae Kwon Do, boxing, and Muay Thai Boxing. Basically, it's the belief that if you are hit continuously you're body will become immune to the pain as well as becoming stronger...or something like that. I've seen a guy whack a Muay Thai Boxer in the shin with a pool stick and that thing friggin' shattered. It was cray cray. April is pretty much skipping all the beginning steps and going straight to the hard stuff though.

*Okay, so in my doujo, when we finish we say some crazy long ass Japanese phrase to each other (which I still can't remember) and bow out. I'm going to assume that the turtles keep this tradition as well.

Before anyone asks, no Mikaela still doesn't remember who she is. Yet. At one point when she is dreaming she remembers everything but it is forgotten as she wakes up. But she is starting to remember bits and pieces of her past, like how to fight and wield a Katana—which is a good sign.

And makes for a very bad ass Mikaela :3

And speaking of badass Mikaela, it is so incredibly hard to find any Mikaela centered stories that don't revolve around romance. And it's hard to find a Sunny/Mikaela/Sides story as well. I feel like they could be a sexy trio. Like, "Hey, you're sexy and _we're_ sexy. We should be sexy together!" We need some of that!

On a side note, Mikaela gets a lot of hits to the head. I'm sort of worried for her.

**Teacher's Secretary:** Hmmm, and what do you think? ;)

**Archie:** Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! :)

**Guest 1:** Good question .

**CarsCars2Fanatic:** Omg yes, I am so tired of boys getting all the action! Where are all the kick ass women at? I did wrestling and judo in high school and I dabbled in boxing and kickboxing for a bit. Fighting is like…a fast blur and when you're done you can't remember half the things you did during the match lol. That's how it is for me anyway. Anyway, thanks for your support in my story :)

**J-T-s-A-X:** Well that would be telling. I want to keep you guys guessing lol. I can say that it will be a _mostly _happy ending. Though for who remains a mystery :).

**TrailWave:** Thank you! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story as well! :)

**Answerthecall:** Thank you! It was because of your support that I decided to extend this past a oneshot! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story :)

**HeartsGuardianSol:** Hell yeah, I love it when girls wipe the floor with sexist males lol :)

**SunstreakersSquishy2-0:** Thank you! And yes, I know exactly what you mean. I have such a hard time reading stories that do that!

**Mayonaka:** Thank you! And yes, I've been waiting for someone to do a Transformers/TMNT crossover as well! I figured there would be a lot out there but sadly, there isn't. I'm still holding hope for someone to do one based on Mikaela/April though :)

**Stormin' Hudson:** Thank you so much! I love writing but I'm always so hesitant with it. I'm always thinking, _Is this good? _And a meeting between her and the turtles will happen, but when is still a mystery :)

**Jimmy10-0:** Thank you for taking a chance with my story! I completely understand I'm always hesitant to follow a story that has less than four chapters. I appreciate your support :)

**NightCoringMadness:** Hell yeah :3

**HardyGal:** Thanks for the review, even in your exhausted state! Happy that I made you happy :)

**Xireana-Zetsubou:** Thank you for the review! You'll just have to continue reading to see what happens ;)

**Guest 2:** Thank you so much! :)

**Whatcanpossiblygohere:** D'aw shucks. You're making me blush. Thanks for the support! :)

**Lunar-Mist:** Thank you! I'm actually looking forwards to the transformers reactions to the turtles lol. I can see it all now hehe :)

**Guest 3:** YESSSSS! ;)

**Tmntfan:** Thank you! :)

**Shaddowridder221:** There's a good chance it _might _be in the next chapter. Or not lol. You just gotta wait and see ;)

Nothing Sweeter Than Victory-Complete

September 30, 2014


	4. I Dreamt of You

I Dreamt of You

Originally, I intended for Mikaela to fight Shockwave. But then I remembered that he didn't really have a face to make all the expressions I was describing him with so I changed it to Starscream. Which, I changed once I thought, "Hey, Starscream can just fly, why is he staying confined to the ground?" So I just threw in Barricade, who's my favorite Decepticon.

Ah, and someone questioned me on the flashbacks. With the exception of the flashback from chapter two, the rest are just obscure memories that happen to tie in with the current chapter. Chapter two's flashback is just a hint to what happened to April/Mikaela.

Ha! I made the deadline of Halloween! Next deadline is Thanksgiving :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but this idea I had on a whim

* * *

"_Percy scowled. "I-I know you."_

_Nico raised his eyebrows. "Do you?"_

― Rick Riordan, _The Son of Neptune_

* * *

_He sighed and rubbed the back of his head, eyes droopy and glazed over as he stared at the computer screen._

"_You should go to sleep," She said in a tone that brokered no room for argument. Purple looked up and glanced back down to the computer screen._

"_Why can't I find them?" He asks aloud and she hesitates from where she collects his nearly empty mug of coffee._

"_It's only been three days Don—" He sweeps his hand across the desk in frustration and his keyboard cracks against the floor._

"_I should've found them by now!" He yells hoarsely and covers his face. She gently sets the mug back down and wraps her arms around him._

"_If anyone can find them, it'll be you." She tells him reassuringly._

"_You found me after all."_

When Mikaela comes to it is because of the intense throbbing coming from her back, cheek, and the back of her head. Her hair is matted and sticky at the base of her skull, as well as her neck and Mikaela can only imagine the nightmarish state that is in.

Trying to sit up she found herself strapped down and restrained to a metal table, elevated high on what appeared to be a large berth. She can see that she's obviously not still at Nest and can only assume she's been caught and whisked away to the Decepticon's base.

A noise to her right and she spies Barricade. He looms over her menacingly, expression twisted into one of deep distaste. Looking down, she observes with a frown that both his servos were present and appeared to be fully functioning.

A movement from over his shoulder had her attention shifting and a stifled gasp of fear left her mouth at whom she saw.

"How pathetic, Barricade, that you were bested by an insignificant organic such as this one," Megatron says sardonically and she sees Barricade jerk, mouth plates shifting down further as his optics burn angrily.

Fury swells over her fear and gives her momentary courage.

"I seem to recall you being bested by an 'insignificant organic'," She sneers and instead of becoming angry, Megatron simply smiles and chuckles. He leans towards her, optics roving over her subdued form.

"Oh, I like you femme, you've got a mouth on you."

She sputters for a second at the unexpected words. "I have a nose too. Do you like me for that as well?" She finally says and feels faintly juvenile after her retort.

Again Megatron just smiles and Mikaela begins to feel slightly disturbed with this friendly version of him.

"You took down a Decepticon…" He murmurs slowly. "I'm impressed. And intrigued. I think I'll keep you," He announces as if she were simply some stray that he'd picked up off the side of the road.

Mikaela isn't really sure whether to be flattered or disgusted but soon settles on the latter.

"I've always wondered what it would be like to have a human pet," Megatron muses aloud and Mikaela cringes away from the clawed digit he runs down her cheek. "I'm delighted I got one that is…useful."

"Is that why you were hacking into Nests' database?" She spat and rattled her restraints angrily. "To scout out for human _pets_?"

And here he pauses and narrows his optics at her.

"I do not know where've you come up with that idea. We were looking for the ground bridge. We haven't hacked into your primitive networking system."

"Taking you wasn't planned but done on a whim. Admittedly, just to frag with Optimus," He chuckles darkly here and Mikaela can tell he is telling the truth. And she thinks, _If the Decepticons hadn't hacked into the database…who had?_

Her musing is cut short when Megatron turns to the silently glowering Barricade.

"Do what you must so that she may be more compliant," He stops and gives him a glare. "Do _not_ break her."

Barricade waits until he leaves before snarling down at her. His hands curl dangerously close and Mikaela's heart stutters with fear as a razor sharp talon pricks against her throat. But then something slithers down his wrist and Mikaela blinks at the Decepticon that sits on her chest.

"Ah, ze prime mate awakens," Says Scalpel as he presses his face in close to hers. Her reflection glints off his large optics. "Now ve can test ze serum."

One of his arms shift into a large syringe, a purple serum swishing around menacingly in the clear capsule. Mikaela tries to burrow further into the metal gurney as he inches it close to her person.

"You vill feel a small prick und then…then you vill forget everything that makes you Mikaela Banes."

Barricade, whom had been scowling the whole time, smiles darkly.

"The process will be a little intense," He rumbles just as Scalpel stabs the syringe into her chest.

Mikaela has a second to register the liquid fire that spreads through her veins before blinding hot white flashes before her eyes and she knows no more.

.

.

.

_There was a box of pizza on the table. Mikaela smiled at the sight of it and instantly popped open the cover. Steam wafted up and she inhaled deeply, eyes falling closed at the heavenly smell._

"_What are you doing?"_

_She whipped around guiltily and looked to her fathers amused face._

"_Nothing," She said innocently, body angling itself to cover the box behind her. He smirks and crosses his arms over his chest._

"_Oh, really," He says, unconvinced. "Then what is that stuff behind your back? Looks like more than just nothing." She reaches behind her to slide the pizza back but instead touches cool metal. Confused, she turns around._

_Lying on the table are little toy cars that bear a startling resemblance to the Autobots. Unnerved, she carefully prods the yellow Camaro with black racing stripes. It rusts at her touch before disintegrating. A scream gets caught in her throat when the rest do the same._

"_Mikaela!" Her father yells and she turns around once more. It is her father that stares back at her but in seconds his features melt and shift until a man with messy chestnut brown hair and deep, soulful green eyes stare back at her. His lab coat sways as he takes a step forward and Mikaela presses further against the table._

_He smiles, but it is a sad one, full of so much regret that she feels tears well in her eyes._

"_I love you," He whispers and she jerks back from the sincerity of his words and feels horrible because _who is this man?

_Unable to maintain his stare she again turns back to the table and stops at what lays on its surface._

_A bo staff, nunchaku, a pair of sais, and a pair of katana—each one bearing a different colored mask resting atop them. She swallows and reaches out with a shaky hand to touch the red mask that sits on top of the sais. _

_Before her hand can make contact with the cloth, a giant metal hand seizes her roughly around the waist._

_A deafening, repetitive beat and she sees that O'Neil is at the left, rifle firing a steady stream of bullets against the thing that holds her. Again he is shot at and it is so much worse this time as gore is blasted in every direction._

_She screams and sobs at O'Neil's demise and continues to sob as the hand carries her to a darkly chuckling Barricade, eyes a fiery red that burns straight through her. He pushes her to his mouth, where sharp gleaming teeth greet her. She screams when he slides her past the metal spikes and into the dark depths beyond._

Mikaela screams as she jerks up only to be stopped mid motion. Crying and gasping for breath, she looks around wildly and sees that she is still strapped to the table. Her head twists around, trying to find where Barricade and Scalpel have gone.

They don't announce their presence and Mikaela doesn't see them. The tears quell as she gathers her breath and she stubbornly refuses to think about her dream.

She sniffs and her face crumples though when her thoughts inevitably stray to O'Neil and his gruesome death. Why did he die and she live? If Will hadn't grabbed him—if she and Sam hadn't been there—would he have lived?

Guilt made her chest tighten and throat close up, her eyes stinging with a new round of unshed tears.

A voice in her mind whispered that this was survivor's guilt and she needed to calm down and focus on her current situation.

_Don't let his death be in vain, _She tells herself and takes the memory of O'Neil and all the emotions she feels when she thinks of him and locks it carefully away in her heart to be dealt with later because right now—right now she needed to not be a sobbing mess of guilt and regret.

A second later she breathes deeply through her nose and blinks away her tears. Her heart is still heavy with grief but also full of determination. She _will _get out of here. _Alive._

Straining her ears, she listens hard for any signs of the Decepticons.

It is silent.

She takes the opportunity to quickly fiddle with the strap that wraps tightly around her wrist. The harsh tugs do nothing to release her and she frowns when her attempts to arch up yield the same results.

Becoming frustrated, she tries to fold her thumb into her hand and wiggle her wrist against the restraint. The strap rubs her skin raw but she feels an incremental movement. A few more tugs and the restraint slips past her knuckles and she is able to pass her fingers through effortlessly.

She quickly reaches over to undo the restraints around her other hand and waist before silently sliding off the gurney. The room is dark and dank, medical supplies and mechanical tools strewn across the floor haphazardly. There is no door in sight, only a large opening that is large enough for a Cybertronian to walk through.

Edging to the end of the berth, she looks down and gauges the distance to the floor. It is at least a fifteen-foot drop and Mikaela ponders on how to get down. Rubbing the side of the berth, she feels that there are no crevices or cracks for her to use to climb down—just a smooth, flat surface.

So she sucks in a breath, backs up, and takes a running leap. Her body takes over and she curls up, head tucking in as she feels her back make contact with the floor. She slaps the ground, letting her hand take the brunt of the impact, and rolls herself into a standing position*.

An exhilarated, almost hysterical giggle burst from her mouth suddenly and she quickly silences herself at its presence. She looks around warily and calms down when she sees no signs of Decepticons before resuming her path to the entryway.

Walking cautiously towards it, she slowly pokes her head passed the threshold and looks out. A long spacious hallway greets her and she squints her eyes to see into the darkness.

Seeing and hearing nothing, she presses her back against the wall and slowly slides against it. She strains all of her senses in case a Decepticon starts to walk down but nothing turns up.

"I need to find a way out of here," she mutters and wonders how hard it will be to find the exit without running into a Decepticon.

But then she remembers that she is inside the _Decepticon_ base—the one that the Autobots and Nest have been spending months trying to find. What she shouldbe doing is finding a way to get in contact with Nest.

She quickly pats down her pockets and curses under her breathe when she realizes that she forgot her cellphone in her room.

The only thing to do now is find their communication center—which she's hoping is unoccupied, as she really doesn't want to deal with Soundwave or his cassettes.

"Where would I be if I was a giant computer?" She whispers to herself as she spins in a slow circle. At this point she can't even tell whether she is going further in or further out of the compound. Frowning to herself, she follows her current path.

She continues in silence for another five minutes before a large explosion sounds and the building rocks. She yelps and falls to the floor, unbalanced from the force of the impact. Immediately the sound of gunfire fills the air, the sharp cracks echoing in the large hallway.

Mikaela sprints in the direction of the sound, knowing that the Autobots have arrived. Rounding the corner, she collides hard with a wheeled foot.

"Sideswipe?" She cries out, surprised. Sideswipe immediately swoops down to her height.

"Oh primus, Mikaela, you're okay," He vents a sigh of relief. "Great, now Ratchet won't weld mine and Sunny's aft together." Oh, so _they_ were the twins meant to transport them.

"How did you guys find me?"

"Wheeljack installed a tracker in your earrings," He said and gestured to the side of her head.

Her hands flew up to her ears, aghast.

"Oh my God, I've been walking around with one of Wheeljack's experiments on my head!?"

"I know right! I'm shocked it hasn't blown up yet," He laid his palm down flat for her to step onto. "Come on, let's get out of here. Sunny went on a fragging rampage when he found out you were take—"

A large plasma blast hits his back, rocketing him forward and almost causing him to land on her. He jumps to a standing position and whirls around. Mikaela sees the deep gash in his back, pink energon seeping from the wound.

"Well if it isn't one half of my favorite Autobot twins. Tell me, is Sunstreaker here as well?" Shockwave asks as he steps forward from the shadows. Fury sweeps over Sideswipe as he instantly subspaces his blades and rushes Shockwave in a blind rage.

His blade clips Shockwave's shoulder and the plasma blast he fires is set off its trajectory. It collides with the ceiling and Mikaela screams and backpedal as pieces of rubble topple down.

"Mikaela, run!" Bellows Sideswipe as he makes another swipe at Shockwave. Shockwave makes a wild fire and Mikaela bolts in the opposite direction as it hits dangerously close to her.

She runs hard, the sound of the fight growing fainter and fainter until she can hear only a whisper of it. Another large explosion rocks the building and Mikaela stumbles as she rounds the corner.

Just as she thinks that she is alone something wraps around her waist and a startled scream tears its way out of her mouth.

A heavy hand silences it abruptly and Mikaela feels instinct take over as she angles her body and throws a hard elbow into her perpetrators solar plexus. Instead of soft flesh, her elbow made contact with something unbelievably hard.

The sharp throb against her elbow made her eyes water and she grits her teeth before raising her foot and stamping down hard on the person's foot.

The person—a man she realized—grunted lowly and let her go. She whipped around and instantly froze at the sight before her.

"W-what," She breathed dazedly. "What the hell…what the hell are you?" She whispers, more shocked than scared. The green, reptilian like creature blinks at her slowly, eyes swathed in red. Something peeks out from behind his shoulders and she is startled at the realization that it is a shell. A turtle shell.

He towers over her easily, large bulging muscles rippling with his movements and he leans down towards her. He opens his mouth to speak but Mikaela turns tail and runs before any words can be exchanged.

.

.

.

_Okay, okay, you just saw a giant turtle person._

She sprinted harder, panic seeping into her veins.

_Not that weird, you live with giant alien robots, not that weird at all._

She rounded the corner and collided with the wall. The wall reached out to steady her with large hands and she screamed and backpedalled as the wall turned out to be another turtle man.

"Angel cakes!" He cried, eyes shining brightly behind orange. The nickname struck her like lightning and settled heavily in her belly. She choked and cringed and backed away as his hands reached out for.

"Wait, angel, we came to—" She sprinted away, eyes watering for no apparent reason. A cry from behind her, the sound of someone running after her and Mikaela pushed herself faster.

"She's heading your way!" The man—turtle?—bellowed and Mikaela had a second to ponder on whom he was speaking to before a third turtle man leapt from seemingly no where to block her path. His eyes covered by blue, he opened his mouth to say something but Mikaela didn't pause in her run as she dashed to the wall and kicked off to land over and behind him.

"Great job fearless," A gravelly voice, one that made her knees weak and almost buckle.

"Stow it," A low snarl and it sounds odd and out of place to her ears, the words _leveled_ and _controlled_ popping into her head.

"Coming your way Don!"

_Don, Don, Don that name why—why did it sound so— _

Mikaela is less surprised when a fourth turtle man leaps in her path. Unlike the first three, he wears goggles over his eyes, an antennae sticking out over his shoulder. He plants his weapon—a bo staff—before him horizontally and pushes a button that has it extending and wedging into the wall. He spreads his arms wide to block any overhead movement.

"It's okay, I know you're confused and scared right now, but we just want to talk—"

Mikaela falls to the floor and slides under his bo staff and between his legs. Using her forward momentum she rolls herself to her feet and continues onward in her run.

"You too, genius?" A sarcastic rumble.

"I didn't anticipate her doing that," A defensive mutter and four sets of feet following after her.

She turns sharply around another corner and sprints until she collides with the wall, caught at a dead end. She whips around nervously just as they come to a halt before her.

Sensing her fear and anxiety the one with the bo staff pushes his goggles to rest on his forehead and she is greeted by purple.

"I-I know this is very disconcerting, what with us chasing after you and all, but we mean you no harm. We're friends."

The four of them gaze at her with eyes imploring her to believe in them. She gazes back, unsure of what to do now that she was effectively cornered and outnumbered. She hears the heavy footfalls of a Cybertronian in the distnace but her eyes never stray from their gargantuan forms.

"What do you want from me," She whispers fearfully, eyes darting between their faces. She sees the one with an orange bandana grimace as if physically hurt and she has to stop the strange urge to reach out and comfort him.

Something in her mind tenses and stretches like a taut rubber band.

"Don't you remember us?" He asked in a small, broken voice. His eyes start to water when Mikaela gives no indication of recognition.

The one with blue wrapped around his eyes steps forward and Mikaela found herself scurrying back. The stomping gets louder and she feels the floor beneath her vibrate with the steady approach of the transformer. They were still some distance away and Mikaela clenches her teeth as she debates on whether or not attempting to run will be a good plan.

Red seems to sense her thoughts as he quickly moves to intercept her. His three-fingered hands whip out faster than her eyes could follow and he is suddenly holding her by her biceps.

"Let me go," She screams and attempts to kick high against his chest. He somehow backs her against a wall; leg moving firmly between her own to hinder all movements. Her breath stutters and an inkling of real fear begins to fill her.

The rubber band grows tighter until it's on the verge of snapping.

"Don't you remember who you are," He asks her desperately, as she struggles violently against his hold. The stomping was so close it felt like it was right next to her.

"Tell me who you are!" Mikaela whimpers and shies away from his penetrating gaze, still squirming in a futile attempt for escape.

"Raphael," Someone hisses sharply from behind and something about that name tickles at her memory. And then there, so quiet she almost misses it, came the whisper of a name from his lips.

"_April."_

The rubber band snaps and blinding pain hits Mikaela hard.

The stomping came to a stop just as a barrage of memories hit her all at once. Clutching her head, she falls to her knees and screams raggedly as two sets of memories battle and fight for dominance in her head.

Above it all a voice chimes in her head:

_My name is Mikaela._

_My name is …'kaela._

_My name is …'aela._

_My name is _APRIL.

Her mind clamps down hard and stills the sudden flood of information but she is left feeling weak and nauseous from the brain overload. Falling against the wall, she vomits all over the floor.

The acrid taste burns her mouth and she gasps for breathe as her body continues to dry heave. Tears sting her eyes and she clenches them shut against the dull throbbing of her head.

Something warm and distinctly metal scoops her up and she peers up through watery eyes into the optics of Sunstreaker.

"Who am I?" She asks him desperately. He scowls, troubled by the question, and she quickly surrenders to the sweet darkness that creeps into her vision.

.

.

.

She gasps for breath when she regains consciousness, eyes darting rapidly to take in her every surrounding. She is immersed in pitch black and she strains to see out into the nothingness.

Struggling, she pulls herself up and inches uncertainly forward, hands stretched out to feel what she is unable to see. Something warm and smooth clasps her hands and she screams and recoils from it. It releases its hold and she comes to the revelation that it was a hand—too soft and delicate to be anything else but a woman's.

"Who are you?" She asks and her own voice is echoed back at her. She swallows back her fear and reaches out once more into the darkness.

Her hands brush softly against the other woman's and she quickly latches onto them. Tugging hard, she feels the other woman do the same and soon they are brought together.

A gasp escapes her mouth and she stumbles back in her shock. An exact replica of herself stands before her, down to her tan skin and crystal blue eyes.

Staring longer she sees that she's dressed differently, wearing dark blue jeans and a yellow-sleeved jacket over a grey shirt. Mikaela reaches out to analyze her replica closely but stops when her replica mirrors her movement.

"I don't understand," She whispers and her replica does the same.

"_It is time to remember,"_ A voice whispers out and she whips her head up and around to find who had spoken.

Before she can say anything her replica reaches for her and pulls hard. She jerks forward but looses her footing and falls down, down, down hands reaching up to grip something, _anything_.

Her mouth opens in a silent scream and the last thing she hears is the voice.

_It is time to remember_

.

.

.

She gasps for breath when she regains consciousness, eyes darting rapidly to take in her every surrounding. Someone jumps and recoils next to her and she follows the movement and her eyes are greeted with blue.

"S-sam?" She stutters out and feels tears pool under her eyes at the sight of him. He is sitting in an olive green armchair, the material battered and threadbare, and obviously over used. His arm is secured in a sling and there are faded bruises on his face, a nasty patchwork of green and yellow-

"Sunstreaker!" She gasps and sits up fully. The sheets that cover her pool at her waist and she pauses for a second to see she is dressed in a patients gown, her clothing folded neatly on the desk at her side.

She grabs them and tosses the sheet to the side to swing her legs over the gurney. Sam jumps up and immediately tries to stop her movements.

"Mikaela you shouldn't move," He cries and attempts to firmly but gently push her back down with his good arm. "You're not well."

Mikaela ignores him to shuck on her shorts under the gown. She spots her converse at the foot of the bed and quickly slips those on as well.

"Where's Sunstreaker?" She asks him as she stands on shaky legs. A wave of nausea hits her and she teeters before grasping the IV drip stand. She looks at it, surprised, and sees that it's connected to her arm.

"What the hell is this," She asks aloud as she stares at the IV drip. She quickly pulls out the needle connecting it to her arm and flinches a little at the sharp pinch it makes.

"Ah, Mikaela," Sam yelps as he tries to stop her. "You seriously shouldn't be doing that!"

The heart monitor clipped to her finger comes next and the loud flat beep that accompanies has frantic foot stomps rushing for them. The door flies open and a team of nest medical personnel flood the room.

"What are you doing," One bellows and quickly rushes to push her back to bed. She easily sweeps his feet out from under him and he crashes to the floor in an undignified heap. The rest of the medical team is reluctant to move closer after that.

"Where is Sunstreaker," She asks lowly and someone in the back states he is in Ratchet's infirmary.

Mikaela wastes no time in throwing her shirt over her head before untying the gown from around her neck and waist. It falls to her feet and she quickly kicks it out of the way before stampeding her way to the door.

The medical team give her a wide berth at her exit.

Ratchet's infirmary wasn't very far, but in the walk to it Mikaela let her mind wander.

Were all those memories true? And if so, why hadn't she been able to remember any of it until now? Why did so many of them contradict other memories?

And more importantly _who_ were those turtles, really? Her memories were telling her that they were friends—family even—but she'd been ignorant of them for almost seventeen years. Where have they been this entire time? Where were they now?

These questions were at the forefront of her mind when she finally made it to the medical bay. Sunstreaker jerked up from his seated position on one of the berth's, a jumble of tangled wires falling to the floor with his movement.

"Mikaela," He yelped, shocked. "You're awake!"

Ratchet, who had been working on some miscellaneous pile of metal turned to give her a death glare.

"Awake and out of bed." He said in a foreboding manner that had her taking a weary step back. Ratchet was more intimidating than Megatron sometimes.

"I—yes. I'm, I'm going to go back to my room after I speak to Sunstreaker," She fumbles out nervously. Sunstreaker looks surprised at her words.

"You want to speak to me?" He says dubiously and Mikaela nods her head frantically.

"Yes, yes! I need to ask you about when you—when you found me. At the Decepticon's base." Sunstreaker frowns then, looking somewhat angry with the reminder.

"What about it," He grumbles lowly and Mikaela swallows and steels her nerves.

"When—when you found me…what did you—" She pauses and searches for the right word. "Ah, what did you do with the…people, with me?"

"People?" Sunstreaker echoes, confused.

She fiddles with the hem of her shirt, feeling unusually anxious.

"Maybe 'people' isn't the most accurate term." She finally says.

Ratchet sends Sunstreaker a shrewd look and the two converse silently.

Sunstreaker shakes his head slowly.

"Mikaela, you've been out for two days. I think you need to go back to the medical center."

Mikaela feels something in her heart break. She shakes her head rapidly.

"No, no, please I need to know what you did…"She pauses as a thought suddenly occurs to her. "I…did you see anyone with me?"

"Mikaela—"

"Did you see them?" She asks him desperately and he furrows his brow ridges in confusion. He glances at Ratchet unsurely and the medic looks back equally confused.

"Mikaela, I found you alone in that hallway."

Her face crumples and she rocks back, devastated. She shakes her head in denial.

"No, no," She whispers tremulously. "They were there. I know they were. _I know it_." They gaze at her sympathetically and Mikaela cringes and staggers back, away from them.

They were not about to tell her she'd hallucinated it all. That the memories in her head were all a lie.

"Mikaela, the Decepticons, they did something to you. You were heavily drugged when we found you," Ratchet speaks to her softly and slowly creeps towards her.

She doesn't like it because it makes it seem like she's a trapped animal. And she feels like one right now as she gazes back and forth, desperately searching for an exit.

"You're wrong," She whispers fiercely. "I know the truth." Except she really didn't, not anymore, not after this. She presses the heels of her palms to her forehead and grips tight to her hair.

"I know the truth," She mutters again, more to herself than them. The room starts to feel too small and she struggles to breathe. Large gasping breathes leave her mouth and her chest tightens inexplicably.

A large warm hand curls around her waist and she starts at the action. Sunstreaker gives her a soft look and she nearly breaks at the sight.

"I've got you," He tells her firmly and her mouth trembles as she presses against his hand.

"Just breathe." She stares into his bright blue optics through her own watery eyes and wills herself to calm down. Her frenzied breathing slows down incrementally and she grips hard onto Sunstreaker who has become her anchor.

She fears the moment he lets go and grips him harder as her body trembles with her anxiety and hopelessness.

He gently grasps her and pulls her up to his chassis and she can't help but press her face against it.

"I'm sorry," She says brokenly, words muffled. She's not sure if she's apologizing for the salty tears she leaves on his chest or for the four people she finally labels as simply figments of her drugged up imagination.

.

.

.

Sunstreaker carries her, hands cradled protectively over her distraught form. Her sobs simmer down to small pitiful gasps and hiccups and more than one nest soldier stare at their passing forms curiously.

It was a while before they made it to Sunstreaker's room. Pushing a button, the door slid open with a soft hiss. Sideswipe, frame repaired since the last time she saw him looked to the two of them in quiet bafflement as they entered.

He quickly becomes uncomfortable when he sees the solemn expression on Sunstreaker's face and the tears streaking down hers.

He hesitates on his berth and Sunstreaker gives a discreet nod to the door. Sideswipe nods and carefully rolls out, his optics trailing to the still crying girl curled protectively in Sunstreaker's hold.

When the door hissed shut behind Sideswipe, Mikaela finally let herself go in her grief, sobs unfurling to new heights.

"Shhhh, Mikaela," Sunstreaker soothed while running a careful digit down her back. "It's okay. You're safe now. The Decepticons can't hurt you anymore."

Mikaela chokes and wishes desperately that she could tell Sunstreaker that she is not scared of Decepticons—not scared of them at all.

Just scared of the slow, but steady unfurling of her mind. Of the black holes and contradictions of her memory that are wreaking havoc on her reality. Of the turtle men and the emotions she feels when she thinks of them.

"I—feel like I'm going—insane," She gasps out between her sobs and feels so incredibly vulnerable after her admission. Because it is the most honest she had been with herself. She felt like she was losing her mind; unable to grasp what is true and what is lies in this new, twisted version of her life.

"I don't know who I am—anymore. Don't know if—I'm awake or still—dreaming."

_Don't know if you're really here, or if I'm just talking to air._

She whimpers and clutches tighter to Sunstreaker and wishes for the first time that he were smaller so that she could wrap her arms entirely around him—because she _needed_ proof of his existence, his presence here.

Sunstreaker pauses in his ministrations and she whimpers again and wraps tightly around the digits that hold her to his chest.

He continues his gentle strokes but she can sense his hesitation as he struggles with himself over something. It is silent for a long moment, the only noise her continued cries. Finally, he speaks and his voice is soft as he talks, his words flat but marked with undertones of deep sadness and regret.

"Long ago, I was separated from Sideswipe briefly," He begins haltingly as Mikaela listens through her anguish.

"I was captured by—Shockwave, and I forced Sideswipe to follow after Wheeljack and protect him instead of coming back for me."

"Twins aren't meant to be separated," He grounds out. "Not like we were. The distance put a strain on our bond to the point where our processors couldn't handle it."

"It was like going insane," He whispered and Mikaela could hear the pain in his voice.

"I was furious most of the time—with everyone. It didn't matter if they were Decepticon or Autobot. They were all enemies in my helm. Other times, I would forget myself and act like Sideswipe."

"And then there were days I would even_ forget Sideswipe." _His words burned with strong self-loathing and she squeezed his digits tightly in comfort. He vented harshly.

"Vorns stretched on before I found him again. And in that time by myself, I carved his name onto my shoulder." His optics stray to his right and she can see beneath the fuzzy blue glow, the small Cybertronian etchings.

Her breath catches in her throat and she reaches a trembling hand out to touch it. It is rough and scratchy beneath her fingers but stark relief shoots through her as she feels it.

Relief because he understands—Sunstreaker understands what she is going through. She isn't alone in this.

"Are you really here?" She asks him desperately, unable to stop herself.

"I'm here," He confirms and she is embarrassed when more tears slip past her lids and trail down her face. He carefully wipes away her tears with a single digit and she is amazed at how gentle his hands are—the ones that could and have ripped apart Decepticons effortlessly.

"I'm here," he repeats and she buries her face against his chest.

She doesn't dream that night, face pressed against Sunstreaker's warm chassis and listening to the strong beat of his spark.

In the morning she silently wishes she had.

.

.

.

Ratchet frowns and skims through the medical files once more.

"What are you reading?" Asks Jolt as he tinkers with the new ankle joint Ironhide requested. Ratchet looks up briefly before returning his attention to the data pad in his hand, mouth drawn into a pensive frown.

"I'm looking at Mikaela's medical records."

"Why? Did something go wrong during her hospitalization?" Jolt asks, concerned.

"She had a brief panic attack and seemed to suffer from some side effects from the drugs the Decepticons administered to her. I was looking through her medical records to see if she had any allergies to what she was given."

"And? Did you find anything?"

Ratchet is silent for a long time as he reads and rereads a particular section.

"Yes," He finally responds. "But it only raises more questions than answers."

* * *

*Okay, so I know that in the shows/comics, the turtles and April can just jump down from large heights and miraculously not break their legs. I mean I guess since the turtles are inhuman, it makes sense, but with April I'm sure she would've at least _sprained_ something. What I described is what you're supposed to do when you take a fall. Or how you learn to take a fall in Judo anyway 0.0

So….did Mikaela really see the turtles? Or was it a product of the drugs? You tell me!

Also, yeah, the experiment totally failed. Instead of making Mikaela forget, it made her remember. Fail lol.

And _no, _while she remembers a whole lot more than she did before, she still doesn't remember _everything_.

By the way, can you guys tell that I really like Sunstreaker :3

**CarsCars2Fanatic: **I know right! I always look for stories with a strong female fighter. And yeah, you have no idea how many times people will talk about my matches and I'll be like, "I don't remember doing that at all." Thanks for the review, I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

**HeartsGuardianSol: **Thank you!Yep, she got Barricade good lol. I think most of it was from him underestimating her though. Either the hits will help or…make her forget more lol :)

**fareyaWH: **Thank you!

**Xireana Zetsubou: **Thank you! Well, she kind of saw them. Somewhat. Sort of. :)

**Chichi: **Welllll I can't reveal everything but I'm going to say you're very close to figuring out the plot. And yes, the hacker is Don!

**Jimmy10.0: **Thank you! Honestly, it's the fight scenes that always cause my slow updates. It's my biggest obstacle. Glad you liked it!

**Xoxo: **I am so totally debating on this becoming a Sunny/Mikaela. But then I think, "What about Sam?"

**Stormin Hudson: **Thank you!This kind of counts as a meeting…right? :D

**Alice Gone Madd: **Thank you!

**Acountlesssad: **Omg, thank you! The update wasn't too long I hope, lol :)

**Answerthecall: **Fortunately, Megatron took an interest in her. Or maybe, unfortunately lol. Thanks for your support! :)

**Mayonaka: **Thank you! And yes! I've searched through fanfic for days looking for Mikaela-centric story. It's so odd seeing as she's the main female character in the first two movies.

**Whatcanpossiblygohere: **Thank you! And yes, I really wish there were more Mikaela-centric stories, but sadly there is so little. Thanks for your support and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**Gustavius3: **Okay, so your review totally reminded me that Barricade's hands are basically useless. So here's an omake for you:

Barricade tries to close his hands around the unconscious girl. His digits refuse to close. He frowns and moves his hand back to study it, then the girl.

"Slaggit," He hisses to himself before he tries to scoop her up, only for her to slide across the floor.

Eventually, he pushed her up against the side of the wall. He angled his digits to slide beneath her body but they fell limply under her weight. Growling to himself, he used the stub where his hand used to be to drag her up the side of the wall. She flopped to the floor.

He tried again and again she flopped to the floor.

Ravage snickered behind him and he whirled around furiously.

"If you're not going to help, you can just leave!" The cassette snorts and moves to the immobile girl. He burrows his head under her body before shouldering her on to his back.

"Damn piece of scrap," Barricade mutters lowly as he watches the ease at which Ravage collects the human.

More loudly he says, "Great, let's get the frag out of here."

**Defiant Nefelibata: **OMG I LOVE YOUR STORIES! And yes, that was Donny who was hacking into NEST lol.

**Counting Sinful Stars: **Thank you! Hope you enjoy the rest of the story!

**Teacher's Secretary: **Thank you!


	5. Ghosts of My Past

Ghosts of My Past

I missed my deadline. I am sad.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but this idea I had on a whim

* * *

"_You can close your eyes to reality but not to memories."_

-Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

* * *

"_You guys are going to forget about me one day."_

_Raphael blanches and gives her a look. They were standing on the roof of a building, the dark shadows of the night hiding them from everyone's view._

"_Don't be stupid, April. No way we're going to forget you." He tells her, sounding somewhat peeved that she would think such a thing. "If anything you're going to forget _us_."_

_April laughs openly at that._

"_That's impossible," She says and reaches out to grab his hand, much to his embarrassment._

"_I could never forget you guys…you're my family."_

Mikaela presses firmly against Sunstreaker and listens to his spark beat. If she concentrates on it long enough, she falls into a type of meditative state—only to be interrupted by a memory of green, which she staunchly pushes down.

_They aren't real,_ she harshly reminds herself.

She repeats the cycle again and again until finally Sunstreaker sits up, hand carefully curled around her to keep her from falling.

"You're awake already?" He asks and Mikaela doesn't have the heart to tell him she's been awake for hours, unable to sleep peacefully from last night's ordeal. Instead she gives a silent shrug. Sunstreaker looks concerned but also like he doesn't know what to say.

No words are exchanged as he gathers her carefully in his large hands and exits his room. They make a slow trek towards the cafeteria and on the way there they run into Sam and Bumblebee.

"Mikaela!" Sam yells and rushes to stand at Sunstreaker's pedes. She feel's Sunstreaker's digits twitch and looks up to catch his optics. She looks back down to Sam.

"What happened yesterday?" He asks when he catches her eye.

"I heard you had some kind of mental breakdown," He says tactlessly and Mikaela flinches at the words. Sunstreaker catches it and scowls at the boy.

"Drop it," He says harshly, voice angry. Sam looks bewildered for a second before he frowns at the mech.

"Hey, I'm her boyfriend, buddy; I have a right to know these th—"

"I said drop it," Sunstreaker growls lowly, eyes alight with deadly intent. Sam stumbles back at the intensity of his glare and Bumblebee chirps something angry in Cybertronian before he stands in front of Sam protectively.

"Mind your human," Sunstreaker spat before gently picking her up off the floor and carrying her towards the cafeteria. She turns and looks at the still shocked Sam and is torn between going back and apologizing and simply ignoring any and everything.

Sunstreaker saves her the decision, as his hand stays firm around her.

Once they enter the cafeteria, he deposits her on top of one of the unoccupied, Autobot-sized tables, leaves briefly, and then comes back.

He places down a tray of food for her and she looks at it dispassionately before looking back at him.

"Eat," He commands and takes a sip from a cube of energon. He pushes the plate closer to her when she makes no move towards it and she sighs and picks up the plastic fork resting on the plate.

She pushes the scrambled eggs around her plate and jumps briefly as Sideswipe crashes to the seat behind her.

"Hey, baby," He says, mouth tilted up in a cocky smirk. "You're looking fine today." He blinks an optic in an imitation of a wink before doing a loud wolf-whistle that has half the occupants looking at them.

Mikaela gives him a small, bashful smile and misses the grateful look Sunstreaker shoots over her head. A group of soldiers pass by then and Mikaela can see, even from the high distance, the black stripe that slashes diagonally over the Nest logo of their uniforms*.

Her happiness dims and flattens once again as she remembers O'Neil.

Sunstreaker senses the shift of emotions and sends her an inquiring look.

"How many died," She asks softly before elaborating at his confusion. "How many died the night of the attack."

The mood becomes somber.

"Eleven."

Her brows furrow with sorrow and she bows her head.

"Was there a service held for them?" She asks quietly and Sunstreaker nods his head.

"Yes, it was held while…" He trails off slowly and Mikaela knows what he was going to say. _While she was unconscious._

Guilt rises and weighs her down.

She should've been there. Should've been there for his—for _O'Neil's _funeral. Her eyes water and she stubbornly blinks them away before Sunstreaker notices.

"Oh," She finally mutters dully and takes a bite of her food. Sunstreaker looks like he wants to say something but decides against it and takes another sip of his energon instead. Sideswipe, uncomfortable with the suddenly depressing atmosphere cracks a joke that she is unable to focus on.

Sunstreaker forces a chuckle for his brother's benefit and the two descend into small talk to stave away any melancholy.

But it wraps around Mikaela, smothering her with its bleakness.

She scoops another mouthful of food and focuses on chewing to distract herself. Just as she thinks she is successful, O'Neil's green eyes flash in her head and she chokes as the green morphs and grows to become humanoid people.

_I need to go back_

Mikaela's plastic fork snaps in her hand and Sunstreaker and Sideswipe thankfully don't notice.

_I need to go back_

The voice grows louder and more persistent and Mikaela mentally pleads for the voice to just shut up.

_I need to go back_

It whispers fervently and Mikaela can't quite stop the observation that the voice strangely sounded like her own.

_I need to go back_

It repeats the same thing like a mantra and Mikaela has to refrain herself from rubbing her temples as a migraine begins to form.

"I need to go," She announces to the table and then frowns once she realized she'd practically repeated what the voice had said. Sunstreaker looks at her food tray pointedly.

"You barely touched your food." He argues but Mikaela is already standing up and rubbing a hand against her temple.

"I'm not hungry," She tells him apologetically. "In fact, I feel kind of sick."

Sunstreaker instantly jerks up, alarmed. "Are you okay? Do you want to see Ratchet?"

Mikaela quickly shakes her head but then stops with a quiet groan. Shaking your head is not good when you have a headache.

"No, I'm okay. I think I'm just going to rest in my room for a little bit."

Sunstreaker hesitates and looks like he wants to argue.

"Are you sure?" He presses.

"Yeah, just let me down. I'll be fine." Sunstreaker picks her up but instead of letting her down he cradles her to his chest.

"I'll take you there." He says and walks out of the cafeteria despite her protests. Sideswipe stays behind and gives the back of Sunstreaker's head a curious frown.

"Weird." He mutters to himself before draining the remainder of his energon.

.

.

.

Sunstreaker doesn't let her down and so she is high enough to peer through the bulletproof glass that lines the upper walls. Her eyes catch the large monument erected at the start of Nest's construction and her heart lurches at the sight. She quickly yells Sunstreaker's name.

He comes to a stop and peers down at her.

"The monument," She says and points outside to it. "Can I see it please?"

He hesitates at the requests, eyes trailing to where she pointed. He wanted to tell her no, she knew he did, so she pleaded with her eyes.

"I need this," She tells him and he eventually acquiesces.

The air outside is hot, the afternoon rays blindingly bright. The black monument stands out starkly against the yellow sand, the sunlight casting a shiny polish on the obsidian.

Mikaela stands before it, eyes roving over every name—every fallen Autobot and Nest soldier before finally she sees it.

Fingers trace the engraving reverently.

_Jonathan O'Neil_

An overwhelming sadness hits her and her knees buckle and threaten to give out. Sunstreaker quickly reaches down to steady her and she can't help but feel foolish.

_Why_ was his death affecting her? She didn't know him, hadn't even met him until that day. And yet—and yet it felt like she had lost someone of great importance when he died. A person she treasured and loved.

It almost felt like she had lost family.

Like she had lost her fathe—

"Are you okay?" Sunstreaker rumbles and Mikaela blinks up at him, musings cut short. She looks back to the monument and steps forward, mouth grazing the warm stone as she spoke.

"Good bye," She whispers softly before pressing her lips against the etchings in farewell.

She steps back and looks up to Sunstreaker, whose optics shine with concern.

"I'm okay," She finally says.

And it isn't really a lie but it also isn't the truth.

.

.

.

She separates from Sunstreaker after that—much to his reluctance—and heads back to her room. Her skin felt tight and gritty and her hair clumpy and matted. She ran a hand through the dark strands and found dried flakes of blood when she pulled it away.

She needed a shower and change of clothes desperately, and more importantly some privacy to collect her thoughts.

When she enters the private bathroom attached to her room, she catches her reflection and is startled by what she sees. The bruise on her cheek from her fight with Marco is an ugly blend of pale yellow and green. Lifting her shirt she sees the same on the entirety of her back. She pushes her hair to the side and sees crusted blood at the base of her skull.

She frowns at the sight and moves to turn on the water in her shower. When the water becomes hot, she jumps in and takes her scrubber and douses it with a large amount of her body wash.

It is only after the water turns lukewarm that she finally leaves the sanctuary of her shower, body and hair squeaky clean and wrapped in a towel.

After drying and dressing herself, she exits her room and halts as she sees Sunstreaker sitting outside, directly across from her room. Sideswipe is there as well, leaning casually against the wall and having a silent conversation with his brother.

A wave of Déjà vu hits her at the sight and she grins despite herself.

"This is familiar," She remarks out loud. Sunstreaker hums noncommittally and stands to his full height.

"I have something for you," He says, and she can here the hesitance in his voice. Sideswipe pushes off the wall and cocks his head at his brother's tone.

"Oh?" She says and raises a brow in surprise. Before he can say more, Sam and Bumblebee round the corner.

"Hey," Sam says after coming to a stop at the sight of the three. Sunstreaker grunts angrily and sends them a glare to which Sam returns. Bumblebee, oblivious to the mounting tension, chirps happily to Mikaela and playfully prods her side.

"Hi, Bee," She says and smiles up to him. Sunstreaker looks put out by her happy demeanor, and grumbles something lowly in Cybertronian. Sideswipe snorts while Bumblebee plays an audio clip of a child laughing teasingly towards the golden mech.

"You think you're so cute, huh," Sunstreaker says snidely while the other mech simply bounces in place childishly. His optics stray back to her and he seems even more reluctant now that there is an audience.

Sam observes the two closely until finally Sunstreaker vents and subspaces an item between two digits.

"I made this for you," He said and passed her a dainty yellow, metal bracelet. In the center was a red gem. Her eyebrows shoot up in surprise at the sight of it and she smiles when she accepts the gift.

"If you press that gem in the center, it'll activate a cybertranium blade similar to mine and Sideswipe's." Mikaela quickly follows his instructions and watches in amazement as the dainty bracelet thickens and extends out to become a cuff, a flat twelve-inch blade shooting out at the end.

"Oh, Sunstreaker," She breathes in awe as she waves her arm experimentally. "That is amazing."

"And it's in my favorite color," She says and gives him a grateful smile. She presses the gem and it returns to its delicate form once more. Sunstreaker seems pleased with her words and Sam frowns at the entire scene he'd just witnessed.

"I thought your favorite color was salmon pink?" He said, almost accusingly.

She pauses in the middle of studying her gift and thinks for a second. Yes, that's right. Most of the clothing she owned _was_ salmon pink. But she hadn't been lying when she said yellow was her favorite color. So why…?

_Deft fingers rub down jacket-clad arms, smoothing out minute wrinkles in the yellow sleeves._

"_You love that jacket, huh angel cakes?"_

_An exuberant smile at his words._

"_It's my favorite color."_

Her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth tipped down slightly.

Sunstreaker saw her growing unease and became angry.

"Do people not change their favorite color?" He asks rhetorically and glares down at Sam. "Obviously, she changed her favorite color after meeting me," He taunts.

"You're gold," Sam hisses. "Not yellow."

"Well she only changed her favorite color recently and the only ones with that color are…" There attention shoots to Bumblebee who steps back from the intensity of their glare.

"Wasn't me," Unfortunately, Rikrok's voice from _It Wasn't Me_ only made Bumblebee sound very guilty. He raises his hands in surrender when Sunstreaker's eyes begin to bleed to white in his growing agitation.

Sideswipe frowns thoughtfully beside them and looks between his brother, Bumblebee, herself, then back to his brother. His gaze lingers on Sunstreaker for a while before sudden understanding dawns on his face and his mouth curls into a sly smirk.

Sideswipe is very silent as he gazes at the back of his brother's head but Sunstreaker jerks up and shoots her a horrified look that has her raising an eyebrow. He quickly whips around and cracks his brother hard in the face, which has the Corvette cackling madly.

"No, I do not!" He bellows before quickly striding away. Mikaela breaks into a jog to keep up with him.

"Sunstreaker, hold up!"

Sideswipe laughs even harder when Sunstreaker stills and picks her up when she is near enough and Mikaela can only wonder what was going on.

.

.

.

Sunstreaker had to patrol so, instead of leaving her to her own devices, he left her in the front hangar with explicit instructions to "stay in sight of everyone". Mikaela argued that it was unlikely that she'd be kidnapped again while in Nests' headquarters but Sunstreaker was adamant in his order.

So she sighed and relented, moving to the side of the hangar to stay out of the way and to observe the few Autobot's that were present.

Dino, Bluestreak, and the Arcee triplets were in the designated safe spot, testing out their aim on various targets.

Mikaela watched Bluestreak in particular, as his shots were almost always bull's eyes.

So caught up in her observations, she didn't even hear Ironhide when he approached from behind.

"Mikaela," He grunted out in greeting and Mikaela, startled, turned to greet the weapon's specialists.

"Hey, Ironhide!"

He turns to follow where her line of vision had been.

"I saw the footage of your fight against Barricade." He commented unexpectedly and Mikaela is surprised at the topic.

"Ah, yeah," She replies, not really sure what to say.

"Have you trained with katana's very long?" He asks and Mikaela isn't sure how to answer that because, well, she didn't _know_ how long she'd trained with them.

She hums in a noncommittal way and says, "No, not really."

He looks skeptical of her response and turns to observe the safe area again. Bluestreak makes another bull's eye, followed by Dino. The Arcee triplet's are all a fraction off from the center.

Ironhide turns back to her with a smile and she has to refrain from running in the opposite direction.

"We should spar."

And Mikaela doesn't even have the chance to protest before he is clearing out the safe area. She is slightly embarrassed when the gathered Autobot's linger behind to observe them.

"Um, I'm not that great of a fighter…"

Ironhide snorts.

"I saw your fight against Marco," He informs her and Mikaela blushes at that.

"Besides," There is a pause as he transforms to his vehicle mode. Mikaela stares at it expectantly and jumps in surprise as Ironhide's voice continues from behind her.

"This will be a weapon's fight."

She looks to Ironhide's five feet, ten inch, and brawny, raven-haired holoform. There is a bo staff being twirled in his right hand, another held in his left.

He tosses the other one and Mikaela fumbles to catch it. Just as her finger's rap around the wood Ironhide launches his attack with a high, downward strike aimed at her head.

She quickly raises her staff to block it, throwing him a disgruntled look.

"That was a cheap shot," She growled before pushing him away and doing a low sweep at his feet. He jumps over it easily and Mikaela is quick to redirect her sweep into an upper diagonal slash aimed at his midsection.

He throw's his staff in its path and the crack of wood against wood is loud.

"You're quick," He commented with a pleased grin. Mikaela smiles despite herself. They jump apart and analyze one another from a distance. Ironhide twirls his staff with both hands and Mikaela raises a brow. She quickly does the same but is able to swing it behind her back and to her front continuously.

Ironhide copies her, adding a nice toss and catch. He never once stops twirling the staff.

"Well, now you're just showing off."

Ironhide roars with laughter as he charges at her.

.

.

.

Mikaela was drenched with sweat and shaking with exhaustion.

"Nice 'spar'," She said wryly, an exhilarated smile tugging at her lips.

Their match had gone on for a while until Mikaela was finally able to find an opening with a forward strike. She didn't deliver the blow but she was able to claim the win. Ironhide was greatly impressed with her victory—which was her only victory. Ironhide claimed the second, third, and fourth match and Mikaela conceded defeat gracefully each time.

Ironhide was a weapon's specialist with years of experience. It didn't take him long to figure out her fighting style and weaknesses.

Ironhide, looking like he hadn't just sparred for the past few hours, sent her a grin of his own.

"You're pretty good with a staff. And that's on top of your skills with katana and nunchaku." Mikaela didn't even bother to ask how he knew about her use of the nunchaku. She had a sinking suspicion that Epps probably gave him an exaggerated tale on it.

"Hmm, I'm not that great."

Ironhide shook his head and his holoform dissipated in a flicker of light. There was a sound of gears grinding and she turned to see Ironhide's Cybertronian form.

"If you ever feel like sparring or training, come find me." He said before striding away.

Feeling a little in shock at the surreal offer, she was unable to form a response.

Bluestreak, whom had stayed the entirety of their match, threw her a thumbs up and she returned the gesture with a smile.

Looking around, she was surprised to see through the hangar door that it was approaching night and well past Sunstreaker's patrol time. With a quick survey around the hangar she spotted him leaning against the side of the wall, optics trained on her. She was surprised he stayed as long as he did as his patrol time had ended long ago.

"He wants you to sleep with him." She started at the words, head twisting sharply to regard the speaker.

Sideswipe stared back at her innocently and Mikaela had to wonder if he realized how inappropriate his words were.

"…You mean recharge?"

He arched an optic ridge and raised a shoulder in a shrug.

"Yeah, sure, recharge." His mouth twitched at the corner and Mikaela chose to ignore it. She looked back to the patiently waiting Sunstreaker and was very tempted to go with him. Instead she shook her head.

"No," She said softly before looking back to Sideswipe. "I don't want to rely on him. I _shouldn't _rely on him."

"He wants you to." He bluntly replied.

Her heart stuttered and skipped a beat and she attempted to play it off with a chuckle.

"And how would you know?" She found herself asking jokingly. Her laughter hid her curiosity.

He tapped his helm and gave her a smirk.

"Twins, Mikaela. I feel everything he feels…granted it took me a while to realize it."

Now it was her turn to smirk.

"Doesn't that mean you want me to sleep with you too?" She remarked and batted her eyelashes at him. She stopped when he stooped down to leer over her.

"Oh, Mikaela," He purred. "There are many things I'd like to do with you."

Mikaela's breath caught in her throat and she felt her face heat up in embarrassment. Sideswipe seemed pleased with her response as he gave her a slow once over.

He looked back up to her face. "Unfortunately, I doubt my brother would be willing to share. Oh, well." He blinks an optic at her, mouth set in a casual smirk.

"I'll tell my brother you aren't…recharging with him. But don't expect him to stop hovering any time soon." He rolls away before she can respond and she is left staring at his retreating back.

That was a joke, right?

The twins weren't attracted to her and they certainly didn't have any feelings for her past platonic.

She thought about Sunstreaker and his short-temper as well as his abhorrence of humans. Sure, he was different with her but that didn't mean he _liked _her. He probably just tolerated her.

And Sideswipe…well Sideswipe liked to prank and trick people.

He was probably just trying to get a reaction out of her.

Well, she wasn't falling for it.

Mikaela observed Sideswipe as he converses with Sunstreaker, eyes lingering on the yellow Lamborghini's face.

She knows the exact moment Sideswipe informs Sunstreaker that she'll be staying in her room for the night as she sees Sunstreaker's optics brighten, mouth curling down to a frown.

She walks away before he can say anything to her because she knows if he asks her, she will break and go with him.

.

.

.

"_Ohayou April-chan!" She smiles at Donny as he runs to her._

"_Ohayou Donny-kun! Mina-san wa doko desu ka?" She looks around and waits for the rest of the family to greet her._

_He points to the dojou._

"_Karera wa kunrendearu." She smiles and takes his hand before walking to the doujo. (They are training.)_

"_Watashitachi ha aniki sorera o ketsugō sa sete." (Let us join them, big brother.)_

_He pauses at her words and frowns. "No, April, only boys can say Aniki. Girl's say nii-san or nii-chan*." _

_April pouts mulishly at that._

"_Nope, I'm using Aniki so get used to it." And then she blows him a raspberry to which he laughs at._

"_Fine, fine imouto."_

Mikaela wakes up slowly and blinks drowsily at her ceiling. She rubbed a fist against her eye, careful of her still tender cheek, and let loose a jaw cracking yawn. She glances to her alarm clock and sees that it is approaching nine-thirty.

Feeling a pang of hunger, she slowly retreats from the warmth of her bed to brush her teeth and get dressed.

Exiting her room, she is not surprised to see Sunstreaker stationed outside. He had continued to hover around her protectively and Mikaela felt warmth in her chest for his obvious concern for her.

Fortunately, her choice to sleep in her own room had not put him off. She didn't want to admit it, but Sunstreaker's presence was comforting during this confusing phase of her life.

She was unsure how well she'd be handling everything if he weren't here.

He threw her a nod when they made eye contact and headed towards the cafeteria, Mikaela trailing at his side.

"Good morning," She mutters sleepily to Sunstreaker. The mech pauses in his stride and looks down at her carefully.

"What was that?" He asked while giving her a puzzled look. She repeats herself again, not seeing his confusion in her hazy state of mind.

"Why are you talking like that," He finally asks and it is her turn to frown in confusion.

"Like what?" She asks, perplexed.

"Like that," He says and waves a hand to her. She gives him a baffled look before sighing and shaking her head. Her stomach growls and she pressed a hand against it.

"Look Sunstreaker…it is too early to try to understand what you're saying. Can we just go and get breakfast, please?" Sunstreaker looks concerned at her words and stoops down to peer closely at her face.

"Are you having trouble understanding me?" He asks and runs a superficial scan over her. She huffs impatiently and crosses her arms.

"Sunstreaker," She whines. "Why are you being weird?"

"Hey, I'm not the one talking funny right now," He informs her and Mikaela, frustrated and hungry simply marches to the cafeteria without a backwards glance.

.

.

.

She sees Sam at the cafeteria and takes a seat across from him.

He smiles happily and greets her around a mouthful of food.

"Good morning Sam," She says and spoons some oatmeal. Sam freezes in the middle of shoveling a forkful of eggs into his mouth.

"What did you say?" He asks, bewildered. Mikaela gives him a flat look.

"Oh, not you too Sam…you don't even like Sunstreaker," She says exasperatedly and pushes the spoonful of oatmeal into her mouth. Eggs spill out of Sam's suddenly slack jaw and Mikaela throws him a disgusted look.

"Sam, manners," She chides before tossing a pile of napkins at him. He ignores it as he continues to gape at her. He breaks out of his daze with a start.

"Mikaela," He says sharply. "Why are you speaking Japanese?"

"Why am I speaking..." She trails off before his question finally processes in her head.

"What!?" She screams and a few Nest soldiers send them inquiring looks. Sam gives her a befuddled stare.

"Okay, I've read enough manga to know that you've just said what."

"What the—what the _fuck. I don't know how to speak Japanese!"_

Sam stares at her for a while before shaking his head.

"Okay, no, you were talking way too fast that time. I only caught that swear word you tossed out."

She looked at him incredulously before quickly reaching up to grip her hair tightly.

"I don't know how to speak Japanese." She repeats hysterically and Sam blinks back uncomprehendingly.

"Okay, yeah, cool, you know how to speak Japanese. Mind you, I don't, so could we please speak English for poor, non-bilingual me?"

She gives him a frightened look.

"I don't know how I'm doing this," She whispers fearfully and an inkling of understanding seeps into Sam's eyes.

"Mikaela," Sam says slowly and gives her a speculative look. "Nod if you understand me, shake your head if you don't." She nods.

"Now, did you know that you could speak Japanese?"

She shakes her head and feels fear well in her chest with this realization. Sam looks discomforted at this news.

"Can you speak English still?" He asks and she tries to respond with words. When he shakes his head negatively she feels panic tighten around her chest, her heart beat picking up until it is like the flutter of a humming bird's wings.

Wave after wave of anxiety crashes down on her until air gets caught in her throat and Mikaela struggles to procure oxygen into her constricted lungs. She is soon gasping for air and Sam, alarmed, calls for help. There is a scattering of movement from the corner of her eye and people speaking. Their words are incomprehensible, drowned out by the persistent buzzing in her ears.

_Panic attack,_ her mind whispered. _I am having a panic attack._

Tears sting at the back of her eyes.

"Sun…streak…er," She chokes out, missing the hurt look Sam gives her. It wasn't very long until she felt a familiar metal hand cup her gently off the floor.

Looking up with blurry eyes she saw Sunstreaker, optics so bright they were almost white.

"Sun—" She chokes and gasps, words failing her as her lungs burned for air.

"Breathe, Mikaela," He commands, pressing her gently against his chassis. "Listen to my spark and breathe."

She presses her ear against his chest and listens to the slow and steady beat of his spark. It beats a calming rhythm that slowly, slowly calms her frantic one.

Her panic slowly dissipates until she is left shaking and breathless in Sunstreaker's palm.

"Sorry," She apologizes, suddenly exhausted from her episode. She does a slow sweep with her eyes and is surprised to see that Sunstreaker had taken her out of the cafeteria.

Sunstreaker is confused by her words.

"Why are you sorry for?"

Her eyes droop slowly and she watches as the white bleeds out of Sunstreaker's optics until they are bright blue again.

"I didn't want to depend on you; to burden you."

Sunstreaker's brow ridges shoot up in surprise.

"Mikaela, you will never be a burden," He hesitated before continuing. "I like that you depend on me…it…I don't mind it."

He looks down to see her response but Mikaela had passed out before she could hear his words.

.

.

.

Getting scanned by Ratchet yielded no results. He couldn't fathom how Mikaela was speaking Japanese when she claimed she had no prior knowledge of the language.

"It seems you'll have to put up with it until we come up with a solution," He had told her with a frown. Mikaela wasn't pleased with the response and experienced much frustration for the rest of the day and next morning as the only people she was able to communicate with were limited to the Autobot's and a small bunch of Nest soldier's that spoke the language.

On top of that, Sam had been avoiding her since her panic attack in the cafeteria and was being very obvious about it. Every time she entered a room he was in, he would quickly leave. Or when he spotted her walking down the same hallway as him he would turn in the other direction.

Mikaela tried to speak with him but her lack of English and his brusque brushoffs made it pointless.

Confused and annoyed, she finally turned to Bumblebee for an answer. She waited until he was relatively alone, or at least sans Sam, before cornering him in the rec room.

"Why is Sam avoiding me?"

The mech froze at her question, optics darting down to her. He scratched the back of his helm in a human gesture before crossing his arms. He took a seat at one of the free chairs and Mikaela sat on a nearby human-sized one.

He let out some garbled Cybertronian, coughed, and then quickly played a song. Gwen Stefani's voice flared out of Bumblebee's speakers and Mikaela narrowed her eyes as _Don't Speak_ was played.

"_You and me, we used to be together_

_Every day together, always_

_I really feel that I'm losing my best friend_

_I can't believe this could be the end…"_

"_It looks as though you're letting go_

_And if it's real, well I don't want to know-"_

Mikaela quickly cut him off.

"I don't understand. Does Sam think I'm breaking up with him?"

Bumblebee twiddled his thumbs before giving a slow nod. Mikaela was shocked at this revelation.

"Why would he think that?"

"You…have been…distant," He said through a series of different radio channels. "Ever since the…DECEPTION!...attack." Mikaela furrowed her brows.

She hadn't realized how her behavior was affecting Sam. She had been so caught up in her problems that she didn't even see how closed off she'd been with him.

"I…I've been going through some things," She finally admitted. "I've been trying to work through it but…"

She looked down at her hands. "Just…so many things have gone wrong since the Decepticon's attacked the base…" She trailed off then as a memory suddenly occurred to her.

She looked up to Bumblebee with large eyes.

"Bee, did the Decepticon's manage to steal anything while they attacked? Like a—" What had they called it? "A ground bridge?"

"Yes, they…managed to…Thief in the night!" Bumblebee said, looking surprised at her knowledge of this. Mikaela wanted to speak more on the topic but was halted by a voice.

"Ah, Mikaela, Ratchet wanted to speak to you about something." Mikaela looked up from her conversation to Epps.

"Did he say what it was about?" She said, reluctant to leave her conversation.

Epps gave her a flat look and Mikaela sighs at the reminder that she is still speaking Japanese.

"Never mind," She mutters softly while pushing herself to a standing position. Bidding farewell to Bumblebee with a promise to continue their talk, she departs from the rec room. She hadn't been to Ratchet's med bay this late before and she hoped she'd never have to again. The Autobot's med bay was situated near the back hangar where Mikaela and Sam were attacked.

Being so far off from the rest of the human's and their facilities, they constantly ran the power circulating through that part of Nest at less then half-power. It was pointless considering the Cybertronian's superior sight and it saved them a great deal of energy.

As such, Mikaela was forced to walk through the dim lighting with squinted eyes and the paranoid feeling that one get's when walking alone in a poorly lit area.

Rubbing the goose bumps that rose along her arms she continued her trek, giving the occasional shudder when she passed under a flickering light.

_Stupid, over-active imagination, _She cursed herself as a vision of that scary movie she'd watched with Sam popped up in her head.

She reached the end of the hallway, right before the bend, and came to a sudden stop.

Something, something was warning her not to turn the corner. She could feel it in the uneasy sensation that welled in her gut and prickled her skin.

She stared at the corner her breath catching in her throat.

The fine hairs on the back of her neck raised with her growing paranoia and a deeper, more curious side of her prodded her into moving forward. She couldn't.

Her heels dug into the floor and she took a slow step back and away, eyes planted on the hard edge of the wall, straining to see through the dimmed lighting.

A slow, nearly silent exhale was heard and Mikaela realized _someone_ was waiting on the other side. She turned sharply, legs moving at a panicked sprint. Her retreat was irrational but something whispered in the back of her head that she was not ready to see who was lurking in the shadows.

She heard a muttered curse and the sound of someone tailing after her, footfalls so soft she was shocked she could hear them at all. A quick look behind her and she was absolutely terrified to see that it was the turtle men—_friends_—at her back. One of the lights flickered and they were concealed by darkness again.

"April!" Raph—_the one in red_ yelled.

_They aren't real_, she wanted to remind herself. But everything was too crisp; too clear—the sweat trailing down her neck, the pitter-patter of running feet at her back, the sharp pounding of her heart—

It was all too real to be just a hallucination.

Spurred on by a rush of fear and adrenaline, she was able to run through the hallway and its sharp turns until she finally made it back to the rec room.

Occupied by a large group of people now, Mikaela wasted no time as she ran up to the first familiar face.

"There are turtles chasing me!" She screamed when she approached Will as he lounged at one of the free tables. He blinked slowly at her and she let out a screech of frustration as her eyes roved over the room before spotting Wheeljack, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe conversing with one another.

She quickly ran up to them and they halted their talk at the sight of her.

"There are turtles out there!"

Their brow ridges furrowed.

"There's…paper out there?" Sunstreaker slowly replied while giving her a confused look*.

"I think she meant hair." Supplied Sideswipe while looking at her enquiringly.

"Don't be silly," Responded Wheeljack. "She obviously meant God. God is out there."

He turned to her and gave her a nod. "Yes, Mikaela God is out there, watching over us."

Then he reached out to pat her head with a digit to which she quickly slapped away.

"No!" She growled out. "There are turtle—"

The lights flick off and the room is plunged into darkness. Mikaela chokes, heart caught in her throat. She huddles closer to the only source of light; the soft glow of the Autobot's optics.

"What's going on?" Will yells out amongst the panicked mutters from the soldiers.

"Someone hacked into the electrical system. All the power is out." She can faintly see Will as he rubs at the bridge of his nose. He turns to the two Autobot's.

"Has Blaster tried to comm. either of you?" They shake their helms in negative and Mikaela gets the uneasy feeling of being watched.

She reaches a shaky hand out towards Sunstreaker's leg and let's out a terrified scream as her hand brushes against something rough and textured.

"Mikaela!" Sunstreaker yells and Mikaela hears him subspace his blades. She is yanked bodily into someone's arms, back pressed against something too hard to be a person's chest, arms trapped at her sides.

"Watch out for the humans!" Cautions Wheeljack as one of the twin's power on their canons.

There are shots being fired, brief bursts of light popping in and out of the darkness. The arms around her body tighten and she feels the press of gravity as her captor jumps in the air.

"Sunstreaker!" She screams out and there is a blue glow on her just as there is a sharp pinch at her side. She is ripped from the person's arms and flies through the air before landing roughly on the floor.

A body lands at her side and she panics and backs herself into the wall. She presses the gem on her bracelet and is comforted at the heavy weight of her blade.

"Someone get those lights on!" Bellows Will and she is just able to make out a large figure swooping in to take out a Nest soldier.

A tentative hand against her arm and a quiet, "April?"

She screams and swings her blade out. A large hand covers the entirety of her forearm.

"April, it's okay." The voice is soothing—familiar. "We're taking you home." An arm wraps around her waist, lifting her until her feet dangle off the floor.

"We're taking you home," He repeated just as he is launched away from her. She screams again and the light is suddenly returned to them.

Nest soldiers are strewn all along the floor. Will and a small group of soldiers try to bodily restrain Mike—_Orange_, that is _Orange _her mind hissed. Leo—_Blue_! has his katana's out and defending against Sideswipe's blades. Raph—her brain stumbles and trips—Red is fighting Wheeljack, dodging each and every heavy swing of his arms.

And there, there is purple, battered and bruised and glaring at Sunstreaker a short distance away from her.

She saw in what felt like slow motion as Sunstreaker raised his arm, the metal plating shifting until it reformed as a plasma blaster.

The rings whirred to life as dense amounts of energy collected until it vibrated from the power of it.

The turtle in purple froze, like a deer caught in the headlights and Mikaela choked as her heart stuttered and stopped beating.

Sunstreaker couldn't—couldn't kill him because this was—

This was her—

A sudden burst of memories hit her and her mouth parted, words instinctively slipping past her lips.

"ANIKI!"

* * *

*I've seen police officer's wear a black stripe over there badge when another officer is killed in duty.

*Aniki, onii-san, nii-san, and nii-chan all mean big brother in Japanese. However, only boys are allowed to say Aniki as it is considered crude and "not cute" for a girl to say it. I'm guessing it's because it is commonly used amongst yakuza members. Also, please excuse my Japanese as it is most likely off.

* Turtle in Japanese is Kame and it sounds very similar to Kami, which means paper as well as hair. If you add Sama to that, then it means God.

So, I've missed my deadline and that is because:

MY AMNESIA DOCS GOT OVERWRITTEN! D':

Well, not all of them just the ones that were important :I. That means the next chapter will take a while, as I have to rewrite it. Or not, if I decide to put the reason for Mikaela's memory loss first…idk.

Anywho, how was the chapter? A lot was happening in this chapter and I tried to condense it but somehow it didn't work out lol. But look! The meeting of turtle and Mikaela/April! Hoorah! Tell me what you thought about it :)

**HeartsGuardianSol:** Let's see what the turtles have to say when asked about that ;)

**Answerthecall:** I like the confusion. It makes it so…confusing lol. Thank you! :)

**Alice Gone Madd:** That could be what he found…or it could be something else entirely :0

**Counting Sinful Stars:** I'm really leaning towards SunnyxMikaela and it's kind of showing in my writing. And we'll see at the end :D

**Defiant Nefelibata:** You are getting dangerously close to the answer. Like, it's almost like you were there when I plotted out the story as almost all of what you said ran through my head during my drafting.

**fareyaWH:** She is getting more and more memories as the story progresses :)

**BookLovingPersonR-B-L:** Yup, logic :)

**xoxo:** Omg that's such a compliment! And I can't find any M/Twin stories and this was after days of searching. I think when I'm finished with this I'm going to do a series of Twins/M oneshots and Mikaela-centered stories. Because we need more!

**Xireana Zetsubou:** Let's see what the turtles have to say on that :)

**NightCoringMadness:** We're all crying :'D

**Guest:** *Pointsabove* :D

**I Believe In Fairytales 606:** Yeah, I put Mikaela through so much crap lol. And I think SunnyxMikaela will be the endgame couple. Now I just have to write up the break up O.O

**Gin:** Exactly ;)

**Teacher's Secretary:** I can't say for sure…:)


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